Last Sunday I found myself inexplicably sitting at the bar of The Crown, feeling poisoned and seeing the world through cotton ball eyes. Big Kiwi Sean sat next to me grumbling about the universe, as he's apt to do, being the grumpiest 32-year-old going on 70 that I've ever met. The world is like sandpaper to his nutsack - everything save rugby, lager, and reggae music, that is. The Serbia-Ghana game blurred on the TV. It was a boring match that I paid only lackluster attention too. More interesting than the match were the Serbian fans, who all looked misshapen and evil. Some of them donned militaristic hats and probably had names like Drago and Lezi. Thousands of years of hard mountain living and constant hand-to-hand warfare has an effect on a people. That the so-black-they're-almost-purple Ghana team beat them 1-0 surely tortured the Serbs, who aren't necessarily known for their progressive views on race... All through the match, Wolfgang - a red-faced German ship engineer - chatted with one of his Teutonic brethren, taking time out from the conversation to comment on the game in English. Germany's first match of the World Cup was scheduled for 3:30 that night, or morning, depending on your sleep orientation. At one point he got up, paid the bill and said:

"I must go back to zee hotel and try to sleep before zee game. Tomorrow I vill come back eizer happy or not happy."

You gotta love the Germans. They know how to lay out their thoughts most logically. And destroy twinky soccer teams such as Australia, who they raped and plundered, 4-0. So, just as he predicted, Wolfgang came back the next day "happy."

Tuesday found me back down at The Crown with Sir David Scraggs and Sammy to watch the New Zealand-Slovakia match. Kiwi Sean was nowhere to be found, which was a shame, since the main reason I had dragged myself through the door was to give the "All Whites" a bit of Yankee support. Sean was exhausted, or so he claimed when I reached him on the phone, so my support for his side had to be limited to text messages sent throughout the game. Slovakia was obviously the much stronger team, as any team who qualifies from Europe cannot be made up of chumps. New Zealand is really only in the World Cup because Australia - their previous rivals - now must qualify as part of the Asia group rather than Oceana. So instead of facing off the Aussies every four years to qualify for big dance, the Kiwis must face down such powerhouses such as Tonga and The Solomon Islands. That said, they played a respectable game for a team with little ball-handling ability and marginal confidence. They even managed to stave off a loss with a last-minute equalizer that somehow made the whole thing worth it. Good on ya, lads.

Rather than sensibly call it a night, the three of us packed into a cab and headed to good 'ol Texas Street, Busan's old red-light district, that is mainly composed of shitty Russian and Filipino girly bars these days. We grabbed a beer at Amby's, which is just a good quiet place to drink unmolested, and then headed up to Kamchakta, a depressing little Russian restaurant lit by bad flourescent lights. Two existentially-bored Korean-Russians (hailing from the island of Sakhalin) sat staring at the television, which spat out a rerun of a Korean drama. But upon request they turned the channel to the pressing matter at hand: The Brazil vs. North Korea game.

There we were, in a Russian restaurant watching the giants of soccer, Brazil, meet the dogged North Koreans, who hadn't qualified for the World Cup since 1966. We dined on Russian potato dumplings while taking in the World Cup's best team against its worst, and guess what, the drubbing that the universe predicted never materialized. Sure, Brazil did win, but the Norks were scrappy and tough. They basically surrounded their goal with red shirts and didn't really bother with the whole "offense" thing. It became quite clear that North Korea was mostly interested in NOT GETTING DESTROYED by Brazil, and they managed to do just that, despite the fact that the Brazilians did sneak two balls in. The score was 2-0 when we left, which was late in the game.

Sam and I jumped into a cab which sped down the empty Busan street. The sun was cracking into the sky as the last minutes of the game blared from the taxi's TV. And then the unexpected happened, the unthinkable: NORTH KOREA SCORED ON BRAZIL. North Korea shot a beautiful, lovely goal right into the back of the mothafuckin' net. Our cabbie, a South Korean, went crazy. He pumped his fist and gave a huge thumbs-up sign. "Buk Han! Buk Han!" he said, which means "North Korea! North Korea!" Even in this time of hostilities and tension, race trumps politics, especially when it comes to soccer. As far as our driver was concerned, KOREAN underdogs were showing the world their mettle. These were fellow Koreans - the uniform be damned - and until some folks in the West understand this basic fact, we'll always be looking at The Peninsula with one eye closed.

The horror - a blog post with no pictures!  I must remind you that our iMac is packed in a box on the way to the US so adding pics is a little more challenging right now.  I'll fix that real soon though.

It's that time again.  Like many deployable sailors, for a significant part of my Navy career, I live out of a bag.  Whatever I can stuff inside a Navy-issued green sea bag, that's what will sustain me for that six month (or longer) deployment.  Actually, we're able to take more gear than that but you should never let the facts get in the way of a good sea story.

Carol and the boys get a small taste of this kind of living when we move.  What to pack and what not to pack.  What toys do they want to play with for the next couple of weeks that won't take up too much space?  Some items to pack are no-brainers - laptop, iPod, camera, underwear, etc.  But then there's the stuff that's not so obvious that you should take with you - chargers for your electronics, USB adapter to transfer pictures, movies loaded up on iPods and laptops to keep the kids entertained, proper uniform items to check into the new command.  Other things like birth certificates, report cards and other school paperwork to register the kids into the new school.  There's also the fun stuff like goggles and sand toys to take advantage of the beach for the next ten days.  They are on summer break after all.  I remember prunes being an important item on previous moves when the boys were just babies.  We want the boys to poop, right?  And then there's the stuff you need to bring along if you wanna get funky - Barry White music, etc.  I won't go into detail here cause I'm thinking it might not pass Carol's editing.

So all of our stuff is packed away and we're now living in a hotel for the next couple of days.  My replacement arrives in Busan this weekend.  It'll be a fast and furious turnover all the way up to the big change of command ceremony on 25 June.

Another challenge while on the road - eating.  Carol is not proud of the fact that she had 3 buffet meals yesterday - the Seacloud Hotel breakfast buffet, the Party and Play buffet at the BEXCO for lunch and the awesome D-Maris seafood buffet at our farewell dinner last night.  I hope I can fit into my summer whites for the change of command ceremony this coming Friday.

Real time update:  Carol just said, "Man, why didn't I pack a lint brush?"  I'll add that to the pack list for the next move.  Gotta go.  Jake just flooded the bathroom.

Updated: I had posted a picture of text that included personal information – I have removed it and tried to replace it.  Safari is showing me a ‘failed photo’ image though.  No luck – refer to the link for further information.

Original:

On June 26, the Busan Gyeongnam branch of KOTESOL will hold a mini conference.  It is worth going to on it’s own merits, but also, you could meet me at the door there.

Click to embiggen or follow the link below.

More information can be found here. At that link, I found a PDF with this information (and more):

KOTESOL is holding the first annual Busan KOTESOL Summer Conference on June 26th at Pusan University of Foreign Studies. This event is open to all educators, both Korean and expatriate, and aims to develop and enhance networks among professionals in the Busan area. The conference also offers teachers an opportunity to develop their professional skills and understanding of how technology can be used in the classroom. The conference is aimed at both public and private sector educators.

KOTESOL is the Korea-based affiliate of TESOL International, a non-profit association of professional EFL/ESL teachers and educators.

At the last meeting I attended – I missed one to do farm work – the plan was to print about 100 copies of the conference book.  The book will contain  abstracts and further information about the presentations.  I mention this because pre-registration will almost certainly guarantee you one – the rest will be handed out on a  first-come, first serve basis.