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By Marty, April 25, 2010 2:17 pm

Yesterday I went rock climbing with my usual friends and a few new ones. There’s always people coming and going here.  One of the new ones is Vanessa – a native of North Texas, former resident of Dallas and an alumni of my alma mater, University of North Texas. Als0 being a climber, she was a somewhat frequent climber at Stoneworks climbing gym at I-35 and Beltline in Carollton.  What are the odds.  Half way around the world but from the same place. She’ll probably climb with us again.

Another reunion of sorts was with my dogs. They got to play with one of the litter. We called her “GaMyeon” or “Mask”, but her new name is “Corker.”  Good friend and frequent climbing partner Dee is the new mommy to Corker. The pups and their mom, SaTang, played on the mountain while we climbed.

Dee holds her pup Corker while Sparky and Satang pose.

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By Marty, April 17, 2010 10:53 am

Since having bought the scooter, it’s gotten much easier to get up to the mountain to do some rock climbing. I’ve been up there the last several Saturdays and gotten some great climbing in.  I haven’t taken many pictures – seems like I have lots of pictures of people who asses from down below I can no longer recognize.

Getting there, however, is half the fun. In the car, SaTang just sat and watched the world go by, sometimes even sleeping as I drove. No more. Those days are over, baby.  She still likes going to the mountain and running around, chasing ground squirrels, barking at birds and begging for handouts from the Koreans who bring their entire kitchen when they climb.  If you want to get out and play, you’ve gotta make an effort. And she does extremely well sitting on the floorboard of the scooter.

SaTang rides in style up to Munsu Mountain

In case anyone is worried about safety, she’s wearing a harness and is attached to the bike via leash. If she falls off, I can yank her right back on without choking her. No worries about that, as she’s content just to sit between my feet and lean against my calves.

Sparky, one pup we decided to keep is too little (and too jumpy) to go up on Munsu. She’s cute as hell, but so far hasn’t proven quite as smart as her mama. Our climbing areas have a few meters of walking area between the cliff faces and the next drop-off, but I’m afraid she would just be too curious.  We might wait until she’s a little less puppy before taking her out and turning her into a full blown crag dog. In the meanwhile, she goes to MyeongHee’s hairshop where she’s fawned over by MH and her customers.

Sparky, still mostly furball, models her scarf

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By Marty, April 15, 2010 1:35 am

The only thing missing is ‘rithmetic.  But I’ve been doing a lot of reading and even more writing.  I haven’t written much on my 2nd novel, but lately that’s changed.  I’ve been putting in few hundred words a day into it. I’ve still not broken big ground with the first one, but that’s fine. I don’t even have high hopes of doing it with this one, but it makes me happy to write.I might try the Lulu route to getting it published.

I had been spending time doing a lot of writing on my ulsanonline.com website but that has taken a back seat. I still write for it but I’m ok with getting in an article a week rather than 4 or 5 a week. These days, the movies section (translating the Korean theater listings of Hollywood movies into English) consumes more time than actually writing original material.

The reading has also been going at a fireball’s pace. I had been pacing myself, trying not to read too much and thus run out of material. But a friend gave me a few nice novels and I’m not so worried about exhausting my supply of prose.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Just wanted to poke my head in and say howdy to everyone.

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By Marty, April 11, 2010 1:58 pm

I’ve been here for over 3 years this stint – since January 2007. I spent another year year here in 2004/05. In all that time, I’ve had only two visitors from America – Kim and Mark.  I had hopes of some of my family members coming to visit so I could show off my little private Shangra-La.  But I’ve given up on that. That’s ok. Going overseas is not for everyone.  Perhaps I can instead bring a little Korea to you, the reader.

Today, MyeongHee and I went to Busan to go to Costco for some American food like cheese, cheerios and sour cream (I could use a few packets of Ranch Dip sent by the way.)  We went with two of her hair shop friends who stocked up on things themselves. All along the way, all three of them would Ooo, Ahh and Ypuda (Korean for pretty) as we drove through the mountains and passed cherry trees, pear orchards or wild red-buds in bloom. It was kind of funny – a musical accompaniment to the iPod I had playing on the stereo.

On our way back, we stopped at a galbi restaurant. That’s a typical Korean tradition – when friends go out together as the 3 girls did, dinner is on the agenda. I love galbi. Knowing nothing of  Korean cuisine back in 2004, it was the first meal I had as the school director took us all out to welcome me and say farewell to the teacher I was replacing. I fell in love with Korean food that night.  Today as we ate, I thought of just how different galbi is from the western diet I still crave (and spent large amount of money on today to sustain my habit of .)  It’s not just the ingredients themselves that are different, but the manner in which it is cooked and eaten.

Traditional Korean galbi is marinated, fatty pork strips grilled right at the table. A few of my close friends in Dallas as well as my two daughters have had it from a restaurant in K-town in Dallas. Only slightly different due to availability of the same types of lettuce and garlic, the Chosun Korean BBQ on Royal Lane just east of Harry Hines in Dallas is pretty close.  The beauty of galbi is the interactivity of the meal. One doesn’t simply consume a plate of meat, veggies and rice, but must actively participate in its creation. As the strips of pork are cooked, they are cut with a kitchen shears into bite-size pieces. Once cooked, a piece of meat is placed on a single leaf of lettuce (anything but iceberg will do.)  Most Koreans put a slice of raw garlic on it next, but some, like me, like their garlic singed a little on the grill. Then a red paste mixture of beans and red pepper is added to it. Depending on the side dishes served, and Koreans usually have numerous to choose from, one can add those to the lettuce as well. I like the marinated onions. Once you have all the meat, garlic, paste and veggies you want in your lettuce, wrap it all up and stuff it – it should be a large wad – into your mouth.   This shit rocks!  It’s a little spendy in Dallas, but here in Korea we can feast for cheap – four of us left full-bellied for less than $40, including beer.

So, for those of you who perhaps one day will come to visit me here, you’ll get your own royal treatment and be shown all the intricacies and niceties of Korean dining. We’ll feast on all that is well and good in Korean kitchens. For those of you who will likely never come visit (I’m not naming names), go eat some galbi and toast me while you eat. In Dallas, Chosun BBQ is best.  Chicago has it’s own K-town and there are likely numerous spots there to try it. South Dakota?  Not likely but there may be something.

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By Marty, April 8, 2010 3:41 am

After what has seemed like a very long winter, Spring has finally decided to make its way here to the Korean Peninsula. And in short order. We only got a few dustings of snow this year, but most people here say it was the most since 2004/2005, the first year I came here. And indeed we had a couple of large snowstorms then, dropping 3-5 inches each time. This year, while no large snow storms hit, it has instead been one long cold front, interrupted only briefly by chilly rains.

Despite the lack of large snowstorms, it’s been chilly for months, near freezing each morning when I woke up and only getting reasonable during the afternoon. Just reasonable. One still needed a jacket even in the warmest part of the day, and while riding my bike I was still wearing heavy gloves and wool socks.

All that was just until this week. With the advent of April, spring has come to Korea, and it seems the plants were only waiting for a few days of warmth to burst forth from their wintery sleep. And burst forth they have. From what was just last week a bleak, grey ride along the river has now been turned into an explosion of pinks, whites and greens.

Just across the street from my apartment are a couple of cherry trees and magnolias. While they are pretty, they’re just a single instance of the multitude of blooms around the city. I don’t have the artistic ability to capture with my camera the glory of miles of river front park lined in delicate pink cherry blossoms and green bamboo, dappled with white magnolia.  You’ll have to take my word for it.  Entire playgrounds  nearly hidden and surrounded by armies of pink blossoms, swarm with young mothers whose colorfully clothed children were too small to walk the last time it was warm enough to play outside. Hillsides that were green in spots only from the evergreen trees are now carpeted in bright green new leaves.

I enjoy the spring, for there are phases of beauty here in Korea, each with it’s own grandeur. While the cherry blossoms rule this week and perhaps next, they’ll soon fall off, creating a blizzard of pink snowflakes and later, lush carpets of petals that have been gently pushed by the wind into drifts. Shortly thereafter, the azaleas will bloom, creating their own rivers of bright reds, pinks and purples along the thoroughfares.

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By Marty, April 1, 2010 2:24 am

While cruising around on my scooter the other day, I found a few boats worth taking pictures of. I wrote this on my UlsanOnline site and thought I’d cross link it here.

It’s short, but I thought interesting.

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By Marty, March 28, 2010 11:36 am

This month I signed a contract for another year here at the school. It will take me through February of 2011.

And I dropped the bomb on MyeongHee.

February 2011 is when her son, DongHyun, will graduate from highschool and either go to college or off to the military. He must go sometime before he’s 28, although most boys do a year or so of university before signing up.

Either way, I decided it would be a good time for a change. I’ll have been teaching at this school for four years straight and another in 2004-05. Five years is about my limit, it seems. But the bigger bomb I dropped is that I want to go back to America. Probably not forever, but longer than the week or so I’ve been able to come back in the previous three years.  Who the hell knows what forever is anyway?  But the longest I’ve ever held a job is seven years and five seems close enough.

Lately, I’ve been feeling like I want to be able to experience America again – nothing so dramatic as the old Simon and Garfunkel song. Just the feeling of going outside and speaking English to a neighbor or chatting with the salesclerk in a store. Not that either of those happened very frequently in America, but when I see a Korean just having casual conversation it makes me miss that. One of the TV shows that really gets me is America’s Funniest Home Videos – just goofy stuff -  but seeing the homes, the yards, the kids, the sports… I miss my country and my culture. I’m probably idealizing to a great extent, but the fact remains that I miss my home country and despite my ever increasing Korean-language ability I am still an outsider here.

Of course, the bigger question is what would I do when I got there?  It’s hard to imagine what job I would qualify for after doing nothing more than speaking English for four years. And that’s if there are jobs to be had – given the economy that’s a big-ass what-if.

Other questions involve MyeongHee – she’s not interested in coming to America. She didn’t enjoy it much.  She’d rather stay. And leaving her hairshop would entail a great expense upon reopening should she come back. She’s happy doing one or two weeks visits but no more.

If I do come home, it looks like it might be just an extended month or two rather than years.  All of that is still a year away and a lot can happen between now and then. We’ll have to see how things go here and in the US. Stay tuned. More will be written as it becomes clear to me.

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By Marty, March 24, 2010 12:10 pm

A last minute cancellation by one of MyeongHee’s friends almost left us holding four dogs. She was going to take two pups and at 9 weeks they were more than ready to go.  I had been holding off on serious training as that’s really the new owner’s prerogative. But they needed training or they needed to go. I spent a lot of time over the weekend posting messages and photos on facebook and on UlsanOnline.com’s classifieds trying to get one or more of my many foreigner friends to adopt a dog.

On their last weekend together, the dogs sack out on the sofa together. From left are SaTang, Sparky, SaRang, and GaMyeon.

I found one friend, Dee, who was willing to take on a pup. Dee is a frequent rock climbing partner and serious doggie person. She is also sister to Fin, my partner on UlsanOnline.com.  She decided to take GaMyeon, who upon first introductions gave her lots of love and affection – she was supposed to -  I trained the pups hard on the “endear” command, just like other owners might teach their dog to “fetch” or “rollover.” It worked great and Dee and she hesitated only a little before calling back and taking her.

GaMyeon takes one last snooze in her bed before I carted her off to Dee’s house.

I had done some hard selling to my students, too, and SaRang is slated to go to set of brother and sister on Thursday or Friday this week. The kids’ mom came to see the pup Monday and will pick her up later after getting all the supplies and puppy-proofing their house.

After learning of the cancellation last week, I took drastic action and had MyeongHee take Sparky to the hairshop with her. She could get better training there than I could here since I no longer get a lunch break to take her out to pee.  She’s pretty cute and her hairshop customers all adore her.

Sparky

So this week, it’s been me and SaTang and SaRang. Being the only pup, she’s settled down and I’ve gotten more attached to her. I’ll miss her – but not that much.

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By Marty, March 21, 2010 3:13 am

Count on it. Every spring, like clock work the Gobi Desert pays a visit to South Korea. This weekend it’s pretty gnarly.  A big-ass storm started heading this way earlier this week. Beijing, China is in the path and they got the brunt of the sand. The bad news, however, is that the further the stuff travels the smaller the particles are, which means when you inhale you get lots of pollutants and very fine sand that can cause serious respiratory problems.We’re nearly at the tail end of the land masses, except for Japan, so we get the smallest particles and the most pollutants picked up by the drifting sand. A lot of my friends are sick with scratchy throats and coughs. I’m trying to stay indoors. Here’s a couple of charts I stole from the Korean weather folks.

Above is the dust storm map as of Sunday, March 21. That gives one an idea of the size of the crap coming this way. But a better indicator is the particle counter. They usually close the schools at 400ppm.  At 800ppm they warn people to stay indoors. We were quite a bit higher than that last night. The various lines are for each of the 20 or stations around Korea collecting samples

Things are a little clearer this morning as I write this, but I believe it’s just a clear spot while more is on the way. In the meanwhile, no exercising outdoors. If I go out, I’ll wear a mask.  Maybe a respirator.  Screw it – maybe an Iron Lung.

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By Marty, March 20, 2010 1:52 am

Everyone once in a while, I see someone change their password on this site. No big deal, but not required if you have a facebook account.  In fact, if you want to comment or share my blog, having facebook makes it simple. I created a simple how-to and placed on the top menu bar. Read this to see how easy it is to use your facebook account to communicate here.