Well, this weekend was summer camp. For me, at least, it's the highlight of the yearly schedule.
This is how we got there

A few hours into our journey, we began to detect a strange odor. Soon afterward we noticed some smoke asnd a dark liquid. Our fears that it was burning engine ould were calmed when we were told that it was only the radiator. Very reassuring. Despite the excitement, we arrived unharmed. Camp is supposed to be an educational experience, a fact that is generally ignored by both students and teachers. The students spend most of their time chattering away in Korean while a substatial fraction of the teachers (myself included) use it as a way to catch up with old acquaintances.

I am very disappointed in myself. On Saturday I caught a cold/flu which has left me weak and woozy. Saturday I spent most of the day in bed, worse yet I spent the night in bed as well. It is something of a tradition at retreat that sleeping should be kept to a minimum on the final night of camp. The next morning I was told that my friends had been looking for me to play Mafia. It was like a knife in my heart (well, it was actually more of a mild discomfort but this is my blog and I can take liberties with the truth if I want to).

Well, here I am in home sweet Daegu. It's not what I would have chosen but I think I'll be happy here. One of the benefits of being here is that I have an excuse to ride the KTX.
I also got to see the 'new and improved' Seoul Station.


The old station is brick and looks 100 years old. The new one is an expanse of glass and steel whose walls lean outward in a suggestion of a forward-looking perspective. It reminded me of my belief that Koreans don't have enough regard for the past. (Everyone reading this who knows anything about Korea just launched their coffee through their respective noses.) Although the assertion is semi-ludicrous, I think the the past half-century of economic progress has led social leaders to believe that growth is an unmitigated good. Whenever I see mountainsides being bulldozed to make way for yet another set of identical apartment buildings, I wonder what price Korea is paying for this truly admirable progress.
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This attitude has been chronicled better by Stavros the WonderChicken, a wiser and much better intoxicated man than I.
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