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By Marty, July 29, 2011 2:11 pm

It’s been a while since I wrote any significant computer code but I finally have an application finished to show off. Long time friend and business partner Fin Madden talked me into developing an app for his new job in Egypt – he’ll be an athletic director for an international school in Cairo. He had been searching for an mobile technology application that would let him manage his students, classes and grades in his new job and was unable to find anything suitable.  Knowing all the programming I had done on UlsanOnline.com, he asked for my help.

Check our  UlsanOnline, where  I pimped it off to my fellow teachers in Ulsan. You can also go directly to the android site and see it. Buy it if you like – I’ll gladly take your money – but it’s a teacher specific tool.

At first I didn’t know diddly about about writing mobile phone apps. I could barely spell Android. But after a little research and some programming I’ve finished with it and placed it on Google’s Android Market for sale. Fin did all the artwork on the app and I did all the programming. He’s paid me a nice fee up front and then we’ll split the profits 60/40 of whatever we sell. At $3.99 per copy, we aren’t likely to get rich but we might make a little beer money and gain a little fortune for ourselves. We’re already famous in Ulsan for the website we do – it’s the most popular English site in the city – but now we hope to get a little more traction with the teaching community.

I”m kind of proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish in less than two months. It’s given me the incentive to try and get back into technology when I return home to the USA. In the meantime, I might develop another app or two. Our Ulsan website has a lot of reviews in English of restaurants that otyherwise would be hard to find for those who don’t speak Korean, so I might have a map-based too that shows nearby places to eat with links to the reviews we’ve done. We also have all the bus routes in English on the website and that might becaomse a mobile app as well.

Anyway, enough geekiness. Summer has finally arrived and it’s hot. Nothing like Texas, but hot is still hot.

This weekend I’m going to the Shipbuilding festival on the coast. A small group of friends and I have entered into a contest to build a boat out of recycled material. The prize is $5000 so we’re hoping we can take a little cash back. If not, we’re very likely to have fun trying.

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By Marty, July 8, 2011 8:22 pm

I haven’t written much these days. Not because I haven’t much to say, but because I haven’t time to say it.  I started working 3 jobs this month: a short gig at the university for a couple of hours each day, I spend the afternoon at the any one of several elementary schools and then I spend 3 nights a week at adult conversation classes. Two nights a week I have private lessons.  And if that wasn’t enough, I’m learning Android and Java and writing a program for a smart phone or tablet.

The teaching jobs keep me pretty busy and I make pretty good money doing it. The programming, although won’t pay much (a friend has asked for a custom application for his new teaching position and he’ll pay me $500 for the software) I hope to parlay into experience that will enable me to get back into the software world when I decide to come home. I’ve struggled with what job I might do when I do eventually come back to the USA and I’ve made my mind up that I’ll get back into technology. I’ve been doing quite a bit of work on the website (and even making some decent money on that) that involves some programming and now with the smart phone, the Android app is taking quite a bit of knowledge and experience to make work. For those not technically savvy, Android is the “other” smart phone style and competes heavily with Apple’s iPhone and iPad line of products. The difference is that Android (a Google tool)  is open source, which means lots of phone and tablet manufacturers can use it and anyone can write applications for it.

Anyway, I’ve just been busy. Real busy. Working 10-11 hours a day and programming in between. Seems like a lot, but I haven’t been sleeping well anyway and so I spend lots of late night hours banging on the keyboard.  It’s actually a good thing, as being busy forces me to be efficient and use my time wisely. I had a little too much time before. The only thing I wish I had time for is riding the bike and for that I need daylight and sunshine, which has been in scarce supply anyway.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

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By Marty, April 29, 2011 4:12 pm

I hope you have never seen one of these and never will see one

MyeongHee’s hairshop got updated this week to the 21st century. She rents a small building with an adjacent bathroom. Prior to this week, the bathroom was just a concrete shell over a ceramic-lined hole in the floor. They used to be fairly common when I first came to Korea but more and more the western toilets are the norm. I really abhor these, because they aren’t meant for toilet paper to be flushed down them. That means that if you wipe you booty with tissue, you’re supposed to leave the tissue in the bucket next to the “island.”  So even though they may wrap up some fouled tissue in a wad of clean tissue, there are still little piles of poop sitting in that bucket for days until someone cleans it out. Very clean and tidy. Smells lovely, too.

You have seen these before, I hope

One of MyeongHee’s friends came by the hairshop to chat and then used the bathroom.  For a man, these islands aren’t such a big deal just to do #1  – we can simply unzip and let loose. Women, however, particular if they wear pants, are not so fortunate and must squat with pants all jumbled up.  After doing her business and having had to work the pants issue, she spotted MyeongHee’s landlord and then bitched him out because of the ancient toilet he maintains. Two days later, apparently shamed into action, he remodelled the hairshop’s bathroom with a tile floor and real toilet.

Progress marches inexorably onward.

Now we can comfortably do our business and without the leftovers from the last person sitting in the bucket next to us.

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By Marty, April 28, 2011 11:47 am

Less than two days after the bike was stolen I got it back!  Woo hoo! I must be living right!

It turns out the thief sold it to a “friend” and the “friend” brought it to OMK Bicycle shop in Ulsan. OMK is one of several bike shops that know me, but these guys do all the mechanical work on my bike and are also my business partners on my other website, Ulsanonline.com.  They have been regular advertisers on the site and regular mechanics for me. It was no surprise they recognized the bike since a) I just had some work done on it last week and b) the seat was still raised high enough to accommodate a 6’1″ dude.  I’m betting the “friend” is the thief himself and unloaded it as quickly (and as far from my house – 5 miles) as he could. The bike shop owners convinced him the police would be looking for such a bike (they weren’t – I didn’t even call them since the thief had a mask and hat) and that it would be foolish to openly ride it around town.  They called me on Wednesday evening and I picked up the bike Thursday.

Honestly, I think it pays to be a white-face among a sea of Asian faces. Lots of Koreans know me because I look so different. But if I see them outside of the normal environment I have come to know them (i.e I see the butcher not at his store but at the park) I don’t always recognize them.  Back home in teh USA I’d be just another forgettable guy whose bike was ganked.

Anyway, as I expected, when I got the bike  the compact air pump was gone, as was the saddle bag with tools and spare tube. The thief also took the speedometer/odometer but he left the sensor on the front wheel so that’s useless.  All minor problems.  I immediately bought a hand-phone case from OMK BIkes (I love those guys) that will let me clip the phone to the handlebars and I can run Endomondo, a GPS-enabled application on the phone that will track my speed, miles, calories – an even better tool than a mere speedometer/odometer.  Now I just need another air pump and tool bag with tools and I’m set for the long rides into the mountains.

The only bad news from all of this is that my bike now lives in the apartment where we really don’t have room for it.  Even chained to the metal handrails on the stairwell outside the apartment offers no protection from a bolt cutter.

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By Marty, March 2, 2011 11:46 pm

And just like that, we were childless. Up until Tuesday, DongHyun still wasn’t sure where he was going to go to college. I figured it was going to default to not going at all and he’d simply find an odd job here or there until he did his 2 year stint in the Army.  But on Tuesday he said he was accepted to MiRae university in Daegu. So today, we packed him off to the bus station and he’s now living in Daegu.   It’s only about 1.5 hours drive to Daegu, but for a boy with no car it’s too far to commute by bus so he’ll live in a boarding house. He has a roommate in a very small room and he’ll study Sociology.

And today, Wednesday, is the first night we’ll spend alone, just MyeongHee and I. She’s a little sad without her boy. And I can’t blame her.  Been there, done that. I think her sadness is compounded by the fact that I’ll be leaving shortly , too. On Sunday, I’ll take off to the USA for a month or so and she’ll be alone.

Anyway, I’m too excited to be sad. I’ll be home in less than four days and I simply can’t wait. Hurry Sunday!

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By Marty, February 23, 2011 10:13 pm

I suppose it had to happen. The fact that I was feeling more than a little homesick and was ready to come back for a visit meant that something had to get in the way. Bittersweet, though it is, as that something is actually really good. I think. Maybe.

Today I was offered a job at UNIST – Ulsan National Science and Technology University – for a position as a technical writing instructor. All that work on novels, websites, and blogs has finally paid off and someone has recognised that I actually know what I’m talking (or writing) about and can most likely teach others to do the same.

It’s crunch time, however, because I haven’t accepted the position yet. All I know so far is that I’ve passed the interviews (strenuous and arduous) and I’ll go up on Thursday morning to try and negotiate a contract. Their website posting for the position advertises the pay as quite a bit less than what I currently make, but they say there’s room to manoeuvre for experience. Since during the interview process they let on they wanted someone with technical experience I know their pickings are slim. As far as I know, I am the only English teacher in this neck of the woods with any sort of technical background. So, I’ve set a number that I want to be paid and it’s higher than their advertised amount. They’ll either pay it or they won’t.

For me, it’s win-win either way.  I’ll either have a nice job in a prestigious up and coming university with 6 weeks of yearly vacation or I’ll be able to come home in less than 2 weeks for a very long, very overdue vacation. I’ll come back here after my vacation and make decent money doing corporate teaching with a varied schedule or part time teaching at two or more private schools. There’s no lack of English teaching positions here for someone with experience and brains.

We’ll see. I know more tomorrow after I meet with the university.

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By Marty, February 11, 2011 10:17 am

I get to present on the 22th of February to UNIST.  Until then, I’ll know nothing about whether I come home in March or June.

I submitted my presentation yesterday. I decided to do it on proper emailing, a subject most Koreans truly suck at. I took a presentation I’d already done for a company I teach at and prettied it up for a the academic crowd.  Should be fun, as the ones who have emailed me already regarding the position are guilty of most of the egregious errors in spelling, grammar, cultural usage, etc.

Today at my regular school, the director is bringing in another foreigner for the day.  He says he’s not hiring anyone full time to replace me and wants to just have a native English speaker once or twice a week come in. I guess he wants to break them in right while I’m still there. He hasn’t said anything else about it, but I suspect I’ll have someone else shadowing my classes for the day.  I hope it’s someone I already know.

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By Marty, February 9, 2011 11:33 pm

I was hoping to have heard this week from UNIST, the national science and technology university about the writing instructor position. Well, I did indeed hear from them. I heard they want a 2nd presentation and interview. I am to prepare a 15 minute presentation (i.e. dog and pony show) on any subject relevant to university level writing  and then let them have at me for another 15 minute of Q and A.

They don’t know yet if the presentation will be on the 15th of February or the 22nd. The next semester starts in March 2, so that’s only 1, maybe two weeks from when I present. And I leave for Texas on March 6th if they don’t hire me.

So, here I sit, contemplating what I’ll present and how I’ll present it and whether I’ll come home in March or wait until June. I’m learning I don’t deal well with periods of uncertainty and I’ve considered even blowing them off just to have the certainty of knowing what will happen in March. Not the right thing to do, but it crossed my mind.

More news later as it happens.

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By Marty, February 2, 2011 9:37 am

My contract is up next month at the private school I now work at and I’ve already got a ticket home. But it’s still a maybe in my mind. Although I had applied for a couple of university positions, nothing had come of my applications until mid January. That’s when friends of mine, who already worked at these colleges, submitted my application again with their personal recommendations. Of course, it’s always been that way – it’s better to network than simply throw resumes to the wind.

Anyway, two colleges here in town, one a nursing college and the other a national technical university, decided they’d better get busy and hire a native English speaker for their spring semester which starts in March. I interviewed at the nursing college last week and then at the teach uni this week. Both times I knew my competition – other friends here in town. That makes it nice because if I don’t get the job I’ll still have a friend there for next year when they need another teacher. The nursing college has already decided and they didn’t choose me. No worries, the winning applicant was Alan, a guy who used to live in Watertown, SD and partied at The Prop, the old watering hole by the lake near Lizzie’s former home.  I’m happy for him. On the plus side, he has a private school of his own he’ll have to hire a teacher for. Maybe I can be his boy there when I come back.

The tech university is a much bigger school and they’re hiring a couple of teachers. They wanted writing instructors, and with the novel I’ve written and continuing writing on my other website, Ulsanonline.com, I figured I’ve got a good chance. My competition is Dee, another good friend who has written for the same website and for the local newspaper we both wrote for a few years back. Dee is also a rock climbing partner and we’ve spent many a Saturday together clinging to rock faces. She’s got a leg up on me on this job as she’s midway through her Masters degree in journalism. She’s also younger and prettier, which is something the Koreans tend to value more in their native English speakers than they do quality or ability, of which she has plenty of also. Regardless, this would be a nice job if I get it, but I’m not holding my breath. If I get, I’ll stay through May and come home. If not, I’ll come home in March.  I hope to know definitively within the next week or two.  I have to admit, though, that even though I’d like the job, I’m more than ready for a break and am homesick. Part of me wants to be passed over  for the job so I can simply go home for a while. The other part of says that rejection still hurts and I want the job, more so than the nursing college job I was already rejected for.

This week, February 2nd through the 4th, is Lunar New Year. It’s one of the two biggest of Korean holidays and the country nearly shuts down while people travel in packs to their hometowns to celebrate. We’ll be going to Pohang and I’ll be sitting on the floor again for a couple of days.  Next week, beginning on the 7th, people will be back and work and thinking hard about who they’re going to hire. I should probably know something that week.

Until then, ta ta for now… and Happy New Year

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By Marty, January 25, 2011 10:48 pm

We’ve Moved.

Not nearly as traumatic as moving day has been in the past. In fact, it was relatively easy. With a few exceptions, of course.

It started at 10:30, which was probably the biggest exception. The movers were supposed to arrive at 12:30, so we still had time to make some breakfast, drink coffee, lounge a bit and take showers and get dressed. We did almost none of that. I had time for only one cup of coffee and everyone was else was still in their pajamas. I had already gotten up and taken the dogs out to the park so I was at least dressed.  MyeongHee complained that they were too early, but they just barged in and went to work.

And work they did.

on the left, nephew ChangHyun, DongHyun and MyeongHee stand amid a sea of boxes and crates in our old home

Within one hour, this team of five or six people (they moved so fast I didn’t really count them) had everything packed. They marched in a boatload of reinforced boxes and proceeded to unfold them and load them up. One woman stayed in the kitchen and wrapped dishes in bubble wrap and filled boxes and then did the dry good and then worked over the refirgerator and freezer.  The mean worked on the living room and bedrooms and packed books, beds and clothes and armoires. They had their business down to a smart science.

MyeongHee tries to act happy even though she's had no shower or breakfast

It was really amazing how much stuff we had. Especially considering I moved to Korea with a suitcase and duffel bag of clothes and a few sundries. Of course acquiring a wife means also acquiring a lot of other things, such as all her pots, pans, dishes, refrigerator, and her clothes. Add in her teenage son and all his accoutrements and we had a 2-ton truck filled. And even that was amazing. No trudging up and down stairs for this moving team.

The ladder truck

Once everything was packed, the ladder truck arrived and they began moving things down into the truck.

The platform is moved into place on the front balcony

A test ride up on the platform

Boxes and crates moved with ease from the 4th floor to ground level in mere seconds

While the men on the 4th floor loaded the platform with boxes and crates, one man in the truck rearranged them into the truck for a tight fit. They would send down a new platform of boxes and he would quickly slide everything into the truck and send it up again for another load while he stacked them.

Just less than one later they had everything moved from our apartment to the truck and we’re pulling out. An amazing time of slightly less than 2 hours to pack and load and entire 3-person household. We packed only our wallets, money, important papers, sex toys (just kidding) and passports. They did everything.

And they were off. MyeongHee and the two boys (her nephew ChangHyun has been staying with us since Christmas) took off with the car while I stayed behind. I cleaned up some and then took off on my scooter to join them

preparing to load the new apartment

And then the process begins anew – only in reverse. Boxes are loaded on to the platform in the parking lot and shuttled up to the 3rd floor.

One man waits for the platform to bring more boxes

A new sea of boxes and crates is formed

This time, we got involved in the process. We knew where we wanted things and how we wanted them arranged. To let them do it all would have been possible, but we’d have probably redone a lot if they did. Our clothes was another small exception to the day – they unpacked them and didn’t seem to notice that my underwear, which are quite a bit bigger than MyeongHee’s, all went into the same section of the armoire.

At just after 2:30 pm the team left with their now empty truck. A total of 4 hours to pack, move and unpack and entire apartment of goods. That must be some kind of land-speed record. Nothing was scratched, nothing was missing and nothing was broken – not even the many eggs that were in the refrigerator. A testament to efficiency of the Korean moving team. I was very impressed. That cost us about US$900 which I thought was a good value.

Still, we spent the next several hours setting things up, hanging pictures, redoing the pond and waterfall. The final exception was the gas. We had none until the next morning so it was a bit chilly and we had to cook with just the microwave. Truly a small price to pay for a mostly effortless move.

The New Apartment, including Sparky the dog

I was going to take several pictures of the new place. This will have to suffice. If you really want to see it, you can come and visit us.

Here’s our new address:

Ulsan
Namgu,Yaumdong 701-1
Hanla Ace Apt. Bldg 101 No. 305

The phone, if you want to call is 82-052-266-5941

That’s all the new for now. Love to everyone.