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Fable

I don't think I ever really discover anything new... I am only abruptly reminded of something which I had already learned the hard way.

When I got on the elevator last night at 1:30 AM (I don't usually come home that early but I had to work the next day) I was assaulted by a horrible smell. "My god..." I said, waving my hands around my face to swat away invisible swarms, the kind which in my experience always attend such a stench. When the elevator opened on my floor my knees buckled. Now I live on the eleventh floor of a twelve story apartment complex and if I could smell it on the first floor...

As I approached my apartment (retching-eyeswatering-gags) I began to suspect the worst: yep, it was coming FROM MY APARTMENT. At that point I seriously debated going back downstairs, taking a cab to the airport, and catching the first plane to Bangkok. The only thing that stopped me was the knowledge that the poor cat was stuck in there with that. If she was still alive.

I turned the key and opened the door. I am a farm boy. I have seen and smelled and done things that most people cannot imagine. But this was another level of stink. I quickly opened the windows turned on the fan and the oven vent and the bathroom ventilator and the air conditioner (it was quite hot in there) and tried to find the source of the stench. It didn't take long.

Here in Korea recycling is compulsory and all organic household waste is put back into the system as well, collected in tiny sealed buckets that you put by the curb with a quarter ticket stuck in the lid. I could never be troubled with that of course so I was in the habit of sticking everything in the bags you have to buy for your non-recycleable garbage (about $.25 a liter). The smell was coming from my garbage can.

I didn't take the time to do a complete autopsy but but when I pulled the bag I realized that something horrible had happened. In the bottom of the bag was another bag filled with the contents of my kitty's litter box. Around and in that was the contents of a bag of live clams that died in my refrigerator(dead clams and clam juice). In addition there was some rotten garlic and broccoli, cigarette butts, moldy yoghurt, and used toilet paper. (I had cleaned the refrigerator, bathroom, and litter box the previous night in a fit of domestic energy resulting from relationship issues).

When I got back from the dumpster and cleaned up the cat vomit I reflected on the lessons learned and fondly recalled the other times I forgot to take out the trash.

Kim Daul in the Nude: An Unlikely Feminist Icon (NSFW)

( Source ) No, I’d never heard of her before tonight either. But the following statement from Korean supermodel Kim Daul (김다을), posted on her blog the day after she posted a picture from a recent nude photoshoot for British fashion magazine i-D, is making big waves at the moment: seriously korean ppl stop bullying me because u know what i [...]

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Hate at First Sight

Every month, I walk into my new classes and I hate them on sight. It's not personal. I just hate everybody that I don't know; those in the classroom are no exception.The feeling usually passes once I share a few words with them and am forced to accept them as people, but up until that point? Hate.

Okay, hate is a bit strong. I'm exaggerating, as I do. Hate indicates a degree of caring, which doesn't exist in this case. Apathy or, at worst, distrust would be more appropriate. Whatever it is, while I follow something resembling the social code which I was taught (holding open doors for people, not cutting in line, and other such blah), people that I don't know don't really register as real people.

Midway through the second day of class, once I've attached names to faces and seen a glimpse of personality, I come around to the idea that my students are real people. By the end of the first week, we're all pretty tight, such that I can cater my lesson plans to each of their individual learning styles and personalities. By the end of the month, I can even imagine that some of them exist outside of the classroom; this is in part because they insist that I have a drink with them, an invite which I rarely decline.

When classes come to a close each month, all the names, which went with faces, most of which had personalities, move on. A new sea of nameless faces, which I hate on sight, then grow to see as people, and finally like, maybe just a little bit, replace the old.

It's an exhausting process.

Bun Cha

It's our second day in Hanoi, and Sarah and I just stumbled on what I've since found out to be one of Northern Vietnam's most famous street dishes: Bun Cha.

Bun Cha is a lunchtime favourite that marries rice noodles, grilled pork meatballs and a fish sauce infused broth in a fantastic dish that screams our arrival in South East Asia.

In classic street food style we didn't even have to order this one - our lunch was brought to us while we were still fiddling about in the Lonely Planet food section and looking around us awkwardly.

We each recieved a plate of lukewarm, slightly sticky rice noodles and a bowl of broth. We also got a large plate of leaves to share and some chopped chili and garlic by way of condiments.

It was all pretty intuitive - take a small bunch of noodles, drop it in the broth along with some leaves, chili and garlic and then gather up as much as you can with your chopsticks, making sure to grab some of that pork along the way.

What happened next was outstanding; the pork meatballs were charred on the outside and medium rare in the middle, containing subtle hints of a spice mix I was having too much fun to even think about. The broth, meanwhile, was in turns sweet, savory and spicy, the unmistakable tang of fish sauce acting as a prelude to the slow chili burn that followed. Apart from the lettuce, I have no idea what the other leaves were. Suffice to say that they were good, with a nippy little purple number making a particular impression.

So good was lunch in fact, that I barely registered the three mice that scurried past our table during the course of our meal.

Now thats what I call food.

The Meaning of 2080 Toothpaste

Here at grad school, the passing of time is often marked by whimsical events unwillingly overanalysed by a fun-starved mind. One such event is when I run out of toothpaste and need to buy another money saving 3-pack. The excitement is sometimes overwhelming. Three tubes of toothpaste last a moderately hygienic bachelor a fair amount of time, so one must be careful to peruse the flavours with caution. If you're not careful, you can be stuck with 3 tubes of Green Tea flavour, or even worse, Sea Salt.

Although they don't sell my kindergarten favourite Colgate Bubblicious, there is a brand called 2080 here, which isn't bad. It comes in spearmint and peppermint flavours. As an amateur toothpaste connoisseur, I give it a 7 out of 10. The main problem is that it foams up too quickly in the mouth, which is inconvenient for me because I like to leave the basin while brushing and walk around the house so I can stare at the walls/ceiling etc.

But as I'm sure you're all wondering, what on earth does 2080 mean?

Aha!

The meaning of 2080 perplexed me for an eternity before I chanced upon the answer right there on the tube. It means that it will maintain 20 of your teeth until you are 80 years of age. Therefore, should I continue to use 2080, I am due to lose around 8 of mine sometime before then.

Preferably not my molars.

South Korea Trip - Pohang 포항

Alright you can check out the video of my trip from Busan to Pohang in South Korea. The trip in total was 358 kms. I rode the #7 highway from Busan to Pohang and the #14 highway back.. On the trip I checked out a lighthouse museum, Homigot Sunrise Plaza, Bogyeongsa temple and Mt. Naeyeonsan.. Each video is a one day trip. I start the day with no plan other than a final destination. By the end of the day I have compiled 2-4 hours of footage on two cameras. I then cut that footage into the five minute video you see here. The video features creative commons music by Loudog- New Friends featured on http://www.jamendo.com. On August 14 I can be heard on Busan eFM 90.5 between 10-11am (Seoul Time/ Aug.13 6-7pm Pacific Standard time) and on August 16 10-11am (Seoul Time/ Aug.15 6-7pm Pacific Standard time) http://befm.co.kr/main/IndexAction.do?cmd=Index Enjoy the video! Jeff

Apparently Prince has a bar in Korea too!

A great meal at the end of the day!

Microsoft: Asians are OK. Blacks, well, uhmm

Review: Miru Kim's photography at Gallery Hyundai offers a new perspective

You might have seen a story about this particular Korean photographer in the Korea Herald recently. Gallery Hyundai's two floors of space contains some fascinating looks at areas usually considered off-limits.

And for Miru Kim, that means doing it nude.

Whether exploring New York City, Michigan, Paris, or even Seoul, many of her works are of abandoned or deserted sites, some not known to residents of the city. Other photographs amongst the dozens bring up the 'how did she get there?' questions.

These are only meant to whet your appetite for beautifully bizarre places, some perhaps no humans have been to in quite some time.

From Michigan's Central Station in Detroit. For her descriptions, she combines imagination of what the area might have appeared like with a bit of history, then adds a dash of curiousity and fascination with the present-day look.

The Williamsburg Bridge in New York. Although nude, Ms. Kim appears neither erotic nor sensual. The female form is only clearly evident in a few of the 50+ photographs; while she seems to make little effort to hide herself, the focus is clearly on the place. Her nudity is done for herself, not the audience.

A catacomb in Paris, France. The lights she's holding is a carbide lamp, which creates a warm yellow light also used in the mining field. She explains them as being safer and long-lasting, but I'm sure it's no coincedence that they bring a more natural light to places that may have seen light in awhile. Other pictures are illuminated by sunlight or ambient light from, say, a city skyline.

My only complaint amongst this exhibition is of a technical nature. While the prints themselves are accurate, some of the images themselves tend to be blurry - possibly because of poor lighting. That the friend taking her picture is mentioned in the Herald article but nowhere in the exhibit steals some credit from a daring and courageous friend.

Full of life (and ironically,death as well) Miru Kim is highly worth seeing if you enjoy urban exploring. Be sure to visit both floors of photographs.

The exhibition runs through September 13th. Gallery Hyundai is open from 10am - 6:30pm, but closed on Mondays. Free admission; handicapped-accessible.

Diretions to Gallery Hyundai: take line 3 of the Seoul subway system to the Apgujeong station. Take exit 2 to street level, then take a U-turn and turn right to follow Apgujeong-ro. Cross at the first light, then turn right. Turn left just before the Lush store - if you pass the Mini Stop you've gone too far. After turning left, the Gallery Hyundai will be straight ahead.

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"Foreign nationals make up 2.4% of Seoul population"

Just a quick report from the Korea Herald while I work on compiling some other blogposts. We foreigners make up 2.4% of Seoul - but read on for plenty of details:

The number of foreign residents in Seoul as of the end of last year reached 255,000, according to the city's e-Seoul Statistics, published yesterday. The corresponding figure in 1998 was 51,000.

Among all 152 nationalities, 192,618 (75.5 percent) of the foreign residents were Chinese, followed by the United States with 12,821 (5 percent), Taiwan with 8,818 (3.5 percent) and Japan with 6,840 (2.7 percent).

The Chinese residents mostly live in the western districts of Yeoungdeungpo and Guro, while Americans mostly reside in southern Gangnam and central Yongsan, where a major U.S. Armed Forces unit is located. The Taiwanese favored the Seodaemun and Mapo area.

So the number of foreigners are up 500% in the last 10 years and Americans make up only five percent of the foreigners here... Granted, it doesn't say much about the other nations that send teachers... It's always nice to get some actual numbers though.

Koreabridge