八道一島Eight Provinces, One Island

Reprehensible Democracy

2008-06-04T22:51:00.002-04:00

I don't care for direct democracy. Whew, there, I've gotten it off my chest, the truth is out. Good policy is often unpopular (and "free ice cream for everyone!" is no way to run a government at any level). My personal preference is for structural changes that lower fiscal and electoral barriers to citizen involvement, thereby allowing the development of legislative bodies that accurately reflect the range of views of the polity they represent (more on all this some other time).
While initiatives and referenda (note the plural) have their place (e.g. constitutional amendment ratification), I have very little positive to say about the recall. Now it's possible for this to be read as a comment on recent or less recent history but I believe I can defend my opinion. Much like Gaul, the misbehavior of politicians can be divided into three parts; legal, ethical and political. Legal violations should be dealt with in the courts, ethical breaches should be addressed by ethics panels (legislative committees or independent agencies) and perceived political shortcomings should be remedied by voting the official out of office (confusing, isn't it?).
Recall elections are not likely to go away anytime soon, but it would not be difficult to improve them. Michigan law (PDF) is pretty reasonable as these things go. The number of signatures required is 25% of the votes cast in the previous election and recalls are banned in the first and last six months of an official's term. Its one shortcoming is a lack of criteria for recalls. While the language of each recall petition must be submitted to an elections board, the board only reviews the clarity of the petition (whether it says what it means), not its accuracy (whether what it says is true) or its appropriateness (whether the complaint warrants this remedy). Establishing a standard of review (e.g. crime, incompetence, failure to perform the duties of the office, violation of the oath of office) and empowering the elections board to enforce it could significantly reduce the frequency of recall elections in this state.

Plagiarism

2008-01-05T21:34:00.001-05:00

Call the RIAA, or the MPAA or the BSA! My intellectual property has been stolen.

In an earlier post (you may have to search through my vast archives to locate it), I had some suggestions for streamlining county government in Michigan. While my ideas have gotten very little interest here in Michigan, only two months after my proposals, the Governor of Indiana established a commission to study the structure of local government in that state. On Dec. 11, the commission released its report. Among its recommendations are the elimination of township government and appointment of county row offices, both my ideas!

If I am forced to be honest, I must admit that those proposals are not new ideas. In fact, many observers of government at the county level have wondered why individuals responsible for carrying out policy rather than making it are elected. The reason why these ideas have gotten more of a hearing in Indiana is because of the degree of confusion in the way counties are governed there. In Michigan counties which lack a county exec, the Board of Commissioners holds both executive and legislative authority. In Indiana, there are two bodies, the Board of Commissioners (mostly executive but not entirely) and the County Council (mostly legislative). Furthermore, while in Michigan people are residents of cities or townships but not both, in Indiana township government is universal. Therefore, the Local Gov Reform Commission's proposals include transferring the duties of townships to the county, replacing the three-member Board of Commissioners with a single County Executive with the authority to appoint officers such as county treasurers, sheriffs etc. (prosecutors would be excluded) and strengthening the County Council by granting it the residual legislative powers of the Commissioners. Of course, not all the proposals are good ideas but instead of going over them one by one I'll just suggest that you read the report, or at least read this summary.

Due to politics, most of these proposals will go nowhere in Indiana. Hopefully, discussing them will make change more likely in other times and places

PS Lest I be misunderstood, I oppose all three organizations mentioned in the opening sentence of this post.

PPS Since this is supposedly a blog about the Korean Peninsula, congrats to the new Prez (he wouldn't have been my pick, but the last guy was and look how well that turned out). Also a warm, fake, 새해복 많이 받으세요 to my myriads of readers. If you don't know why it's fake, you probably don't know what it means anyway.

Modest Proposals?

2007-05-14T09:36:00.000-04:00

Over the past few months, as the political class of the state has been in an uproar over the budget deficit, I've had several ideas abut streamlining local government (three to be exact , though the third, or perhaps the second, has escaped me).

The most significant proposal, and the most impossible, would be to eliminate townships in the state. Under this plan unincorporated areas would be administered directly by counties. This plan would also establish population and population density criteria for creating villages (general-law and home-rule) and cities.

The other proposal that I can remember deals with county row offices (surveyor, treasurer. sheriff, clerk...). Counties in MI can now create the office of county executive (either by adopting a charter or using the optional unified county structure) but the majority of the executive functions of the county remain in the hands of separately elected individuals. My proposal would allow the county commission to propose a referendum on eliminating one or more row offices and transferring those powers to the executive. If the referendum passed, the county executive would be able to appoint those row officers with the advice and consent of the county commission.

Recap

2007-05-14T09:22:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so I was planning to narrate my experiences day by day. Well, "if wishes were horses..." oh, sorry, wrong hackneyed cliche', what I meant was, "the road to hell ...". My internship was great (well, except for two weeks in March when my motivation went on Spring Break), I learned a great deal, I didn't really get to do legislative work as I had wished but I had some awesome experiences nonetheless. I drove the Boss to the Governor's Mansion (a relatively modest home, as it turns out), I went to various functions and fundraisers and rubbed elbows with important people and, perhaps the highlight of my time there, I sat in the balcony of the State House chambers for the Gov's State of the State address.

One semester down

2006-12-22T13:20:00.000-05:00

I have come to the end of a semester. It's been really informative to see what politicians actually do. As I mentioned before, mostly not politics. Constituent relations, like a lot of what politicians do, has a double purpose: it really is about serving the people who put you in office but it would take a better prevaricating than I to suggest that it doesn't help pols keep their jobs.
Although I'm only required to take one semester of internship, I'll be staying for one more. The fact that our caucus has taken control (and there, I've revealed my party affiliation) certainly affected my decision. I'm actually a lot more interested in policy than in constituent work (heresy!) so I'm hoping that I'll get a tiny little chance (I am still just an intern, after all) to deal with legislation and the like.
In honor of Christmas:
My apartment is slightly more furnished, it now features a couch (which serves as a bed as well) and a table. The public library is between my workplace and my apartment. There's a and affordable Korean restaurant in East Lansing. I passed my classes this past semester and I'm taking a course in GIS next term. Life is good.

Hole Sweet Hole

2006-10-05T16:20:00.000-04:00

Making the more than two-hour (one way) trip between where I lived and where I intern got to be a strain so I decided to find an apartment in Lansing. I soon discovered that close, affordable and nice is a best-two-out-of-three competition. I decided that nice was dispensable, mostly because I believe it is a sin to pay for parking. Now I can walk to work. Unfortunatly, last Sunday when I decided to move my belongings, my parents were otherwise occupied so I was only able to transport that which would fit into a tiny hatchback. (Yes, I bought a car. In fact, in keeping with my interest, its a 대우. It's tiny and dented and the radio doesn't really work because it's a nice aftermarket model that an incompetent previous owner tried to install. I really like my car.) That means that I have food and clothing but no furniture. Right now I wish I have bought a Korean dinner table, it would be a lot better than trying to balance my plate on my lap as I sit cross-legged on the floor (BTW, that ability has diminished along with my linguistic skills).
On Monday when I woke up, I was happy to learn that for my first pedestrian commute Mother Nature had scheduled rain. Whee! Were it not for the fact that I am even more of a cheapskate than I am a slacker, I would surely have driven to work.
I have been slowly becoming acclimated to my new duties, the Chief now requires 50% less red ink to review my constituent letters. As I predicted, I don't really interact with the Boss. She came into the office two weeks ago and called me over for chat. After asking one question, and before I could answer, she was called away to some other duties and I basically haven't seen her since. She exists as a pleasant but disembodied voice on the phone. Campaign season is upon us so my superiors are getting a little stressed. The have to be out of the office quite often because the office is government property. It's one of those rules that makes perfect sense in theory but seems a bit daft. Politicians get their jobs via politics and retain their jobs the same way but are not permitted to engage in it at their jobs. The law's not wrong, it's just silly.

Meanwhile, in the topic that I meant to dedicate this blog to, hopefully 김정일 is about to get on the very last nerve of his Chinese 'friends' who have been a big part of the life support for that moribund regime. I'm inclined to believe that a nuclear test is of no great benefit to the North and that it might be the push a lot of Southern appeasers need to get off the fence. I continue to believe that it would be nice to have options besides apology for present tyranny and nostalgia for the tyranny of the past. Well, a guy can hope, can't he.

Ch-ch-changes

2006-09-12T11:44:00.000-04:00

I might be back.
[Myspace] Well, that was fun while it lasted. Apparently when you're in a relationship you're supposed to let the other person know. I'll try and keep that in mind for the future.
I never wanted to be the stereotypical foreigner with the de rigeur accessory of a Korean girlfriend. I guess I dodged a bullet. After more than a year of emails and long-distance phone calls (Made of plastic, the KT America phone card features the face of Kim Jung Eun) she informed me that she was getting married in a month. Only then did I let her in on the secret of our relationship as it existed in my head. Rereading that email now has the sick fascination of watching videos of skateboarders wiping out.
Disappointingly, this substantially diminished my interest in things Korean (food excepted) although my desire to learn the peninsula's language and familiarize myself with its culture and history preceded the girl. A month after the wedding date, the interest seems to have survived.[/Myspace]

Started a new 'job' yesterday. I'm now one of the newest interns in the Michigan state legislature. I bestride the world like a colossus. I am the new Hammurabi, Iaw-giver. I answer phones. (At least one of the preceding descriptions may be correct) In reality I will probably rarely interact with Boss, the legislator for whom I work, my real supervisors are Chief, the head legislative aide, and Aide the other staff assistant (who I mistook for a fellow intern yesterday, great first impression). I'll be sitting in the office and attempting to placate constituents.
The one day that I've done so far was a great learning experience and I hope to post regularly about what I'm doing without actually saying anything. (Which, given my natural lack of tact, will be challenging).

PS Aren't I creative with the names?

Efficient Procrastination

2006-05-22T13:32:00.000-04:00

Due to the fact that not posting on this site was insufficiently challenging, I have now created a Cyworld page that I can also avoid posting on.

Fact[free] Check(point)

2006-03-15T14:01:00.000-05:00

I confess I felt quite pleased to hear that NPR's Morning Edition would be doing a segment on inter-Korean relations inspired by the opening of new border checkpoints between the two Koreas. My anticipation was largely in vain. The piece was as content-rich as a local news segment about a new shopping center being built downtown. Nowhere were the moral ambiguities of the new 'detente' between North and South addressed. In short, it was the opposite of what I've come to expect from NPR.

UPDATE
Well, I guess I owe NPR an apology. All Things Considered (3/15) had a very good story on the North Korea themed Yodok Story, a jaunty musical about Gulag-like prison camps. Really.
BTW I really do hate McCune-Reischauer transliteration and its elusive circumflex. I still don't know if the title is 여덕,요덕, 요독 or 여독.

In other news, if the Marmot recommends it, it must be a good idea.
The Korean Blogosphere

Northern Limits

2006-03-09T15:15:00.000-05:00

This is the sort of thing that puts me in the uncomfortable situation of agreeing with the majority of the blogs which focus on the Koreas. (The question of why so many of them have a conservative viewpoint is one I'd like to address someday.) I'm actually enthusiastically in favor of negotiation but backing down to NK is no way to achieve peace. The NLL was instituted arbitrarily and may need to be redrawn, but only in the context of a broader agreement on naval issues. To open the NLL for discussion when the North has been unwilling to negotiate on any of the other matters under discussion is to give up an important bargaining tool.

War and Peace

2006-02-03T11:37:00.000-05:00

This level of clarity is sadly lacking in most discourse. I just happened upon an article by Joel Stein that makes a related point.
(Thanks to DPRK Studies for the link, what follows is nobody's fault but my own.)
Armies are for killing. Since we're the good guys we do our best to make sure that the only ones killed are 'bad people' but it matters little to a dead man that he were killed by a very nice American bomber crew whose GPS coordinates were off by a second of arc rather than by a murderous terrorist.
Imagine if the State Department and USAID got the budget that DOD gets, if the Peace Corps was as well equipped as the Marine Corps is.

Trying to return to the topic which inspired this comment, Gunnery Sergeant Burghard is part of a system set up to kill people. That his particular duty is admirable is irrelevant, he isn't clearing explosives so that children can get to school, although I imagine what he does helps them, he is clearing explosives so that American armored vehicles can move about without hindrance. Similarly, the programmers, truck drivers, accountants and yes even the doctors are cogs in a great war machine (this is especially true in Burghard's branch, the Marines, since whatever else they do, every Marine is a rifleman. Or so I'm told) and they cannot separate themselves from its product. (In fairness, I think that a doctor's responsibility to provide care certainly outweighs the issues I raise).

This ought to be a major distinction between us and the terrorists. They believe in something (something evil) and they believe so strongly that they are willing to kill for it. We claim to believe in something (freedom, something wonderful) and yet we too are willing to kill for it. The president's people are right to call the philosophy of the terrorists an 'ideology of death', well then let us oppose it with an ideology of life. This 'War on Terror' is a wars of ideas and it cannot be fought with the enemy's weapons.

I confess, I'm not sure how policy would be affected by a broad adoption of the principles I hold. (After all, I actually advocate a harder line in dealing with NK) My recommendation for Al Qaida was that its members be tracked down and put on trial for mass murder and I think a judicial paradigm might serve as a framework for a world based on the supremacy of something other than the barrel of a gun. e.g. The idea of universal jurisdiction would allow Saddam or the leadership of NK to be put on trial anywhere in the world. However, arresting the truly evil and using diplomacy with the rest would not resolve every situation. In conclusion, if the goal is truly peace and freedom, the means must be consistent with those ends. It is better to accept death on the side of right than to survive immorally.

New Title

2006-01-27T13:41:00.000-05:00

팔도 일도
I'm pretty proud of myself for coming up with it. I was even more proud when it merited an complement from Kushibo, whose opinion is always worth consideration.

In the news:
This is why Korean 'progressives' are unwilling to see the truth about the North. Anyone remember the boy who cried wolf?

BTW 새해복 많이받으세요

ABTW Does anyone else find that the background resembles the North Korean flag? Well, that's the reason I picked this template so long ago. I have no love for what it represents but you have to admit that the nations of Northeast Asia have some nice flags. At least North and South Korea and Japan (even the one from WW2) do, China's is an improvement on the Hammer&Sickle which I assume inspired it but it's still a step backward from the Nationalist flag it replaced.

Wow, this is exactly what a blog is for. It gives you an opportunity to express opinions unencumbered by facts and unconstrained by the fear that you might be boring someone since, of course, it's not like anyone actually notices.

한민족

2005-12-21T15:00:00.000-05:00

(While reading About Joel some time ago, I came upon this post, which got me to thinking. These are my thoughts. People with a better command of the language than mine are encouraged to correct my many errors.)

한국사람들이 한민족이라고 생각한다 그건 좋은점도있고 안좋은점도있다 예를 들면 혼혈인의문제는 잘아는것이다 우리나라라는말이 바뀌어야된다 "우리"가 의미두가지있는데 (영어 똑같다) 하나는 "나랑 너랑"인데 하나는 "너말고 나랑내친구랑"이다 한국은 1번에서 2번으로 옮겼으면 좋겠다
물론 미국은 전혀 완벽하지않다 인종 차별은 아직 심한 문제이다 그런데 누구나 미국땅에서 태어나거나 오래살면 미국사람이다 어떻게 생겼는지 어디서 왔는지 상관없다 (이론상으로) 한국에서는 그렇지 않다 많은한국사람들이 한국에서 기운 혼혈인보다 한번도 가보지 않고 한국말 전혀 못하는 재미교포는 더 한국답다고 생각한다
19세기는 제국시대이고 20세기는 민족국가시대이고 21세기 국제화시대이다 신시대는 새로운생각이 필요하다

2005-12-13T13:07:00.000-05:00

(The first in what is to be an occasional series on the geopolitics of the Korean peninsula)
I found a great article by Dr. Hahm Chaibong (함재봉).
_{via ">North Korea Zone}

Dr. Hahm might be the last honest man in NK studies. I'm a pacifist and a fan of democratic socialism and I support a much harder negotiating line on NK. It would appear that everyone in the discussion has a favorite dictator, I choose none of the above. The economic development that Park encouraged did more good than bad on balance. He certainly was not as bad as the Kims but that is very faint praise. On the other hand it baffles me how those who participated and even lost friends in the struggle against dictatorship at home can serve as enablers of a worse one next door. I'm no fan of American hegemony but when students and friends told me they found the US a greater danger than the North, I was flabbergasted. Those who would argue that because North and South are brothers, the North poses no threat have clearly never had siblings. Unfortunately for the apologists for the bad old days (they know who they are, "better oppressed than red" and all that hot air) the US has squandered its credibility with the people of South Korea and that hurts America and both Koreas. Across the third world, the US pushed nationalist revolutionary movements into Moscow's arms by supporting the oppressive status quo. Likewise in SK, the perception that the US supported the regime meant that opposing the generals implied opposing the US.
An end to the conflict on the Korean peninsula should not come in any other way than as one unified nation with all nine provinces governed in the same free democratic fashion. Only then will it be safe to throw the Americans out (if that is the desired course of action).

Ambiguous Thanks

2005-11-27T18:30:00.000-05:00

1) Life: My great horde of readers must be aware how conflicted I was about my car accident but on balance, being alive generally beats being dead.
2) Family: I live at home. With my parents. After being away for almost 4 years. I'm sure I will find myself writing about the drawbacks of the situation but right now I want to focus on the good. My parents do their best to avoid being meddlesome while staying their encouraging selves.
3) Education: I'm glad to have the opportunity to be in school even when I don't seize it the way I should.

My life is filled with continual tension between satisfaction with my life and dissatisfaction with myself. While other people have raindrops fall on their heads, I just spit forward into the wind and then look surprised.

Futility

2005-11-13T11:34:00.000-05:00

As reported earlier on this very site, I took Level 2 of the KPT last year. As I am in the US this year I decided to study the next two levels and take Level 4 next year.
plans... mice... men.... blah blah blah
This plan of mine depended on one basic assumption; proportionality. I figured that Level 3 would be as hard for me now as Level 2 was before I started studying for it and by that same logic that 4 would be the same once I mastered 3.
Well, there were at least three major flaws with that assumption. The simplest is that levels don't have to be equidistant and they rarely are. I should know this from teaching ESL (I think that's supposed to be EFL). The second is that I had lived in SK for around two years when I started studying for Level 2, I had a preexisting base of knowledge. The third is related to the second, I was living in SK at the time and learning and practicing everyday. Now I'm in the States where most of what I do with Korean is forgetting. So, given my world-renowned powers of concentration, I'm pretty sure I'll be ready to take the Level 1 by next year.

人生如朝露

2005-11-02T11:44:00.000-05:00

지난금요일밤에 난 교토사고 당했어요
11시지나서 집에가다가 너구니는 길에 뛰어나왔는데 죽이지않고 피하려고 길에 벗어났어요
차가 나무 충돌할때까지 모두 괜찮다고 생각했어요 (충돌 뭐인지 몰라 사전에서 나와)
"그냥 길에 다시 들어가서 나중에 친구랑 재미있는 이야기 할게요"
꽝소리 나서 그렇지않다고 깨달았어요
너무 놀라서 잠깐 앉아 있었지만 연기난 것같아서 빨리 내렸어요
다행히 불아니고 airbag 때문이었어요
경잘 빨리 왔는데 아빠 부르고 집에 갔어요
차는 수리할 수 없지만 난 무사해요
그 날 밤애 잘잤어요

일요일 새벽 7시 전화왔어요
부모님 친구딸 교통사고로 죽었어요
그녀는 예쁘고 똑똑하고 착한 사람인데 나랑 전혀 달라요
이해안가요 지난 나흘동안 그런 생각이 자주 나요
죽은날 언제인지 아무도 알수없다

Anyone with an interest in 한자 should be reading this blog.

My date with the KPT

2005-09-26T10:42:00.000-04:00

I've always liked learning languages. I picked up Spanish by being sent to a middle school classroom with a blank look on my face (long story).
When I first went to Korea I figured I would pick up the language in no time. That didn't happen. I decided to teach myself; this increased the weight of my backpack without any appreciable change in my proficiency. Eventually I decided to take some classes (given that I was working as a teacher at the time, one would think that the idea would occur sooner: one would think). For the record, YBM/시사 is nearly as expensive as it is effective. When I left Korea in the fall of 2003 I told myself that if I ever went back I'd take the KPT so I could have some sort of tangible proof that I wasn't entirely ignorant.
On my return I looked for the KPT study guide in 영풍문고, didn't find it and promptly forgot about it. Somewhere in the middle of the year I saw an announcement in the Korea Herald that the registration for the exam was open. When I went to the website I realized how poor my reading really was. Several long minutes later I figured out that although the 2004 registration had not yet been posted, I could register for the 2003 version. This was remedied a few days later and I downloaded the form and avoided filling it out. After learning the difference between typed and hand-written Korean (strangely it doesn't just arrange itself in neat squares by itself when you write it), I sent it in. A day or so later the institute secretary called me out of the staff room to answer the phone
"여보세요"
"네"
After a bit of confusion, I realized that it was from KICE. Apparently you're supposed to decide what you’re putting on a form before you seal it in an envelope. Right after I dropped it in the mail I realized that I hadn't chosen a level; I was pretty confident with my ability to handle level 2 but I thought I should challenge myself and take level 3. Unsurprisingly, I said "이단계" The study guides were still not in, and I pestered the staff of 영풍 everytime I was in 서울. Finally, in July I got the study guide and, naturally, I carried it around in my backpack. July was a busy month and the book would probably have stayed in my bag indefinitely (till the Sept exam that is) were it not for my 'coffee club?' a trio of coworkers with whom I regularly went out for tea. When they found out that I was planning to take the test, they nagged me mercilessly. When I actually started studying I realized cowardice was the better part of success. Level 2 was harder than I thought. I was a little disappointed to discover that the study guide was nothing more than a compilation of the 6 previous tests but I went over them, one a week, until I could complete a test in about half the allotted time. I was living way out in the sticks, 춘천 a town of 300K people an hour from 서울, so I decided to spend the weekend in 서울. On Thursday, my friends showered me with gifts; 엿, 떡, and even a tiny pair of scissors to hang on my phone.
The test was in the afternoon but on Sunday morning I got on the subway headed for서울교대. On arrival, I explored the entire campus before relenting and asking a security guard where I was supposed to be going. After more aimless wandering (interspersed with occasional requests for directions to people who turned out to be fellow test-takers who were as new to the building as I was), I located my room and my assigned seat.
I couldn’t study. The majority of the people seated in the room were reviewing furiously but I couldn’t see what difference a few more minutes would so I started chatting with the guy next to me. He turned out to be an exchange student from China (where, I don't now remember). My chattiness turned out to be a problem. There was a news crew (SBS if I recall correctly) hanging around and, when they noticed how voluable I was (and am) they asked me to give an interview after the test. The attractiveness of the reporter overcame my better judgement and I consented.
The test itself was actually quite anticlimactic. After being very challenged by the practice tests (except for listening which was disproportionately easy) I was surprised by how easy the real thing seemed.
After I finished, I went out and had my interview. Once the camera started rolling, I forgot every single word of Korean I know. Naturally, those few of my 아줌마 students who saw it said I did very well.
I returned home and waited the 6 weeks or so that it took for the results to come out. When they did, I searched the list for my name. It wasn't there. I checked with my first name alone, then with my last, still nothing. I came very close to tears. Then I thought to check for my number and, thankfully, there was my name. Both first and last were misspelled. I was unreasonably overjoyed. Mastering the second level of a six level test is no great achievement, especially compared to folks like Joel (Level 5) and especially oranckay (Level 6) (my apologies for the shameless kissing up), but that's how I felt.
Hopefully when I go back to Korea I'll be able to take Level 4 but, given my study habits, it's not worth holding one's breath.
Originally posted at kangmi.

2005-09-19T15:02:00.000-04:00

글안쓴지 거의 한달 됐어요
여기 뭔가 써야되지만 아무생각안나요

이 blog 내인생랑같아요
뭐든지 시작할때 잠시동안 열심히 하다가 재미없어진것같아서 그일 바꾸고싶어요
대학교때는 어떤때공부를잘했지만 보통안그랬어요
대할원가게돼서 열심히하기로 했지만 결국 퇴학당했어요
한국에 갔는데 마음에들어서 행복했어요 문제하나밖에없었어요
내 생각에는 각사람에게 할일 있는데 뭐인지 잘 모르지만 가르치기 아니에요
이제 다른대학원 다른전공 인데 난 독같은 사람 이에요
포기할생각 점점더 자주나요

지금부터 일주일에 한번이상 써볼거예요

2005-08-21T23:16:00.000-04:00

When I thought about starting a blog I figured that since I'm full of hot air and have an opinion on everything (especially the stuff I know nothing about) it should be easy. I overlooked my ingrained laziness and, given the specific theme of this blog, my aversion to photography.
This particular post is a bit of blogwhoring. While reading Liminality I came upon the diagnosis of one of my issues. According to the BigHominid, I'm a victim of GOMAS: Get Out of My Adventure Syndrome. It explains why I have to suppress a scowl when I run into a fellow non-Korean on the street and why I hate Itaewon. As I often say to my Korean friends when they ask why I don't frequent that area, "If I wanted to see people who look like me, I'd go home."
As it happens, I am going home. It appear that the blog that started with the lofty goal of ~60 posts will end this project with less than ten. I leave with one of the main questions that brought me here unanswered and with a lot of trips untaken and sights unseen. Barring death or divine intervention I find it inconceivable that I won't be back. (Welcome to the Hotel California) I'm not sure what I'll do, Korea is a goldmine for those interested in EFL and a dry well otherwise, but I've got a few years of school to figure it out.

2005-07-17T21:30:00.000-04:00

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).

2005-07-03T21:12:00.000-04:00

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.
[blogwhoring alert]
This attitude has been chronicled better by Stavros the WonderChicken, a wiser and much better intoxicated man than I.
[/blogwhoring]

2005-06-30T18:38:00.000-04:00

I guess this just isn't going to be a photoblog.
Today nothing happened.
I am happy.
It would appear that my coming may not have been entirely in vain, though that remains unconfirmed. In the words of the magic 8-ball, "signs point to yes". (Those of you who know what I mean, know what I mean).
Tomorrow I'm going to my assigned place. I'll be spending the summer in the hottest place on the peninsula. Not where I would have requested but I'll be happy there. I'm sure I'll be happy to unpack my stuff and hang up my suits (all two of them).

Links for the previous post:
Young Poong Bookstore
My dictionary
The one I want

2005-06-30T18:10:00.000-04:00

(Well, there went my goal of a photo a day.) I had quite an interesting day on Tuesday.
I went back to my old stomping ground of Chuncheon. On the way I discovered that subway and train stations have a huge number of steps. Since I don't have problem with my knees, I don't usually notice how many steps I have to climb. With a large suitcase in hand, I became painfully aware.
I arrived at the Institute in Chuncheon and it was like I had never left. It was great to be back, except for one thing, the people I most wanted to meet weren't around. I was pleasantly surprised when a few of the people I was looking for appeared. I was most surprised to see a friend who I had been told was in China (my sources had the date of the tour wrong).
It was good to be back there, I suspect I'll be ending up there pretty often.
On the way back to Seoul I made a shocking discovery, a mostly empty suitcase is much lighter than a full one.

2005-06-29T20:05:00.000-04:00

This post should have been written on Monday night. It wasn't. So begins the story of my working vacation. I had a few reasons for wanting to return to Korea (this blog will rarely use the geographic distinguisher, as its author shares the opinion of Cold War political leaders about the number of legitimate governments on the peninsula) but they will become clear to the reader as this experiment progresses. Conveniently, my summer vacation coincided with the teaching schedule of my Institute (that's its name). My plane was scheduled to leave at 7AM Sunday morning (June 26) This gave me the opportunity to stay up all night. Apparently I'm old. I did laundry, packed my bags and went to bed.

In order to do my part to keep the world safe for democracy, I arrived at the airport two hours before my flight. This would have been a more productive plan if the airport personnel had done the same. As it was, everything went well. In fact, I was a little disappointed that Uncle Sam didn't feel the need to perform a thorough inspection of my 'belt buckle'.

There's a reason why cheap flights are cheap. Often, it's because you have exceptionally long layover. On this flight it was probably just as well since it turned out that the departure gate was not only in a different zip code, it was probably in a different time zone. After wandering through terminals 1, 2 and 3 I finally noticed a sign telling me to go to Terminal 5. I asked for directions.
Out the door.
Down the hall.
Up the escalator.
Another hall.
A pedestrian walkover.
A train.
Another walkover.
Pretty self-explanatory I'd say.

The plane as seen from the window of the gate area. Not a 777. I had been under the mistaken impression that I was going to have 14 hours of movies-on-demand.
I meant to get a picture on board. It would have confirmed my argument about the superiority of of flight attendants on non-US airlines (although I like to act enlightened, really I'm just a boor).
The plane arrived around 5PM on Monday (after a 14hr flight starting at midday on Sunday), I got to the Institute at 8.

2005-06-29T18:22:00.000-04:00

Well, this may not turn out to be a genius idea after all. Yesterday I went to 영풍 bookstore, a second home to me during previous stays here. There I inevitably bought some books and discovered why progress is bad. I bought an electronic dictionary last year and I've been generally happy with it (the 옥편 is weak, no etymology) I saw that a new model, with tons of new features and, most notably, expandable memory is available for W15,000(a medium priced meal, or three at the places where I eat) more than I paid for mine. I think the industry should intentionally limit innovation in order to promote sales. Otherwise, buyers are going to realize that anything they buy is already obsolete and wait interminably for the 'best' deal.
(The previous post is made in blatant disregard of both economics and human nature.)