8 Seasons in the Land of the Morning Calm

where should a2 spend their upcoming long weekend? Mokpo: a historical port city on the west sea Busan: second largest city in korea Wan-do: island off the south coast Free polls from Pollhost.com for information about the destinations: Welcome to Mokpo City Busan Metropolitan City Welcome to WANDO

Hello Grandma Rosie!!!

Last night walking home from KumDo class Alex and I were stopped by a Nepalese man.  The three of us stood clustered in the middle of the street in an unusual moment of levity, a moment of loose conversation between strangers.  How odd to be stopping in the middle of our neighborhood as though we were stopping on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago! Anyway, it turns out that Ram (full name: Ram Prasad Sharma) is a human rights' lawyer serving as an intern in Gwangju. The three of us talked for fifteen minutes about a wide range of subjects from Nepal's government and civil war, intolerance between religions, and general observations about living in a foreign country.  We listened as he spoke about his daughter and wife back in Nepal, and how hard it is to be away. He also shared his difficulty in having English as a second language in a town where no one spoke English.  Like us, Ram came with the idea that people had a basic knowledge of the English language, and l...

Are you sexy? Newest in the line of smarmy, appalling and what-the-hell-were-they-thinking-TV, comes Are You Hot? The Search For America’'s Sexiest People . There I was on another sleepless night, channel-surfing without destination, and I land on a show just as they are introducing their esteemed, celebrity judges. Needless to say, when I saw that Lorenzo Lamas was considered a celebrity, I had to see what the hell required his “expertise”. Did anyone else know he was considered an international sex symbol? Have the women of the world gone blind, or are they so desperate that they find a fake-baked, over-bleached, badly-botoxed shell of a man attractive? "International Sex Symbol" taking himself too seriously.   Anyway . . . I cannot tell you the rules of the show without sarcasm, which wholly ruins the effective seriousness of the competition that makes viewing it hilarious. Therefore, I will simply regurgitate the producers’ words. “"From coast ...

"Oh, this is the best pizza in a cup ever. This guy is unbelievable. He ran the old Cup 'o Pizza guy out of business. People come from all over to eat this." -Steve Martin's character Navin Johnson from The Jerk

For those of you keeping track of my employment history and search for the perfect job, you can scratch teacher off the list.  It’s not that it wouldn’t be fantastic to be an educator.  Teachers are fabulous, brilliant, selfless individuals (well, for the most part).  My memory has canonized several men and women who fostered my will to seek an adventurous life, and the tools to do it with (shout out to Carol Varner).  However, as with all else in this wide world, some are simply suited to the task better than others. QUESTION: Audrey, how do you know that you wouldn’t enjoy teaching? ANSWER: I’m doing it right now. Not this minute exactly, but through the month of July to help out Alex’s school. Part time work with 8-13 year olds is full time work. QUESTION: Is there something specific that you’re not so keen on? ANSWER: If I were to have to narrow it down, I’d say the portions of a class where everyone is staring blankly during in class worksheets...

Alex's Canadian coworkers finally did as we feared they would... they "fled" Gwangju last night stealing school property as they went.  From the beginning we had reservations about them, and then news came that the Korean government was cracking down on English teachers for misrepresenting their qualifications.  It turns out that a great many, and mostly Canadian English hires of late, have falsified their Bachelor's Degrees to acquire work here. Even Alex is scheduled to go to immigration with his diploma for scrutiny. Our Spineless From Ottawa had often times seemed too young to have gone through Bachelor's Degree Program, and never seemed too clear on dates they did attend.  They liked to get drunk and brag about crimes they committed back home - from breaking windows to breaking and entering. They had expected Korea to be like Japan, and then were angry when it wasn't, as though the country had misrepresented itself in all the books they never read. ...