Contrasts

At times, the fast paced Korean society seems to drift back in time, reminding the casual observer, a.k.a. me, that life here hasn't always been running at 200 km/hr.

Today, while walking to the bus stop in the Thursday morning cold, a group of workers huddled around a small fire they had built in the empty lot. In a few weeks that lot will be a new apartment. Today, it was burning branches cut from some unsuspecting urban tree growing between concrete and asphalt.

At other times, the recycling person comes by. They are pushing around a huge cart, by hand, piled high with cardboard which blocks their view through the streets, between the cars and high rises. Nicaragua at least has oxen to pull the carts.

This from the same place that builds entire cities in a year. There are elevators for the cars in parking garages. Phones have TV and internet that work even on the subway underground. Contrasts of the then and now.

zzzzzzzzz

There is nothing wrong with putting your head down on your desk and catching a few winks during the work day. Some of my co-workers even have pillows here at the office. I've succeeded a few times (after waking up way to early to watch football), but on a normal day, I give it a shot but find myself laughing at the concept, and thus can't drift off. The laughter wakes me up a little, but not enough.

It's 30 degrees in the office. It's negative 2 degrees outside and in an hour I have to walk to the bus so I can get a propper nap in before Friday night. I think I'll try and practice again.

Secret Touchdown

3 am Monday morning and I was up watching the Chargers attempt the impossible victory against Indy. There was the plan to watch it on the internet - streaming from www.myp2p.eu which doesn't work on my computer (I am assuming because of Vista), but does on my neighbors who was prepared for early wake-up call. Only, being 3am Monday morning, they were showing it on broadcast TV - channel 73.

As Rivers goes for the quarterback sneak, the commenator yells, "Secret! Touchdown!" Sneak. Secret. It's all good. They won.

Now its 8.30 am and I'm at work, watching halftime of NY/Dallas. The internet is such a lovely thing. 3am is a little less lovely.

New stuff

After refusing to eat the larva on grounds of being a vegetarian for 18 some years, I figured it was time to really delve in and try something new.

First on my list is language lessons. I’m off to a great start, as in I can almost read, though I don’t know what the words mean. I can even kind-of count, though 80 always sounds like, and comes out as “Pile Shit” instead of some version of what it should be. When I say 18, I sound like I’m saying “fuck” in Korean.

Next is Tae kwan do class, which is the national sport of Korea. Five days a week I go and kick things, usually the air, though sometimes I miss. I’m not bad, for having done it for four times. I look pretty silly in the white uniform and I don’t scream ”Hi-Ya” which gets me in trouble.

Finally, as a direct result of the cold, and the facts that muscles I didn’t even know I had have been aching for the last four days, (I am assuming from my adventures in kicking air), I also adventured off to the local spa. The spa is another great Korean tradition directly resulting in their desire to be clean and that in the past many homes didn’t have baths or hot water. Similar to Eastern European spas (minus the mineral water), you lounge in a variety of heated pools, saunas and steam rooms. Here, though, you are segregated and naked, which has its advantages except when the 9-year-old girls want to practice their English. Then the naked thing is a little weird.

So, that’s my first month.