Fire on Nak Mountain

As of 11:00am this morning, Naksan Temple was safe but several small (or maybe not so small) forest fires were buring on Naksan and on several hills and forested areas inland. I would not be surprised if there were more than a thousand people fighting the fire, fire fighters, police, soldiers, rescue workers and volunteers. Highway 7, running from the DMZ, past Naksan and on to points south was fully open, although police were at all the relevant major intersections. The paved roads leading inland from Naksan were also all open.

I don't know how big the fire is (or hopefully 'was') but the high winds and dust devils were spreading it in a difficult way to control. There was a lot of ash floating in the air and as early as 8:00am, the smoke could be smelled in Sokcho, 12 km away.

Students staying in residence at Kwandong University were evacuated to a point two km further from the fire and are now at a wedding hall.

Below are some pictures with minimal text as they explain themselves pretty well. Below the pictures are my story.


waiting for instructions
Above is the main gate to NakSan Temple and groups of forest fire fighters were milling about.


Naksan Bus Parking lot


Hurry up and wait or a long night?
The bus parking lot held at least 40 of these tanker trucks plus 15 or more fire trucks. Ocassionally, one would race out, siren wailing. The soldiers in this line of truck (10 or more behind this one) were all sleeping.

North side of the road: the wind carried hot ash, fire was crossing the field and road.
These two pictures might be in the wrong order or story telling but they are in chronological order of my arriving on the scene. I think the main fire was on the South side of the road but that it had jumped to this side.


South side of the road. Fire fighters approaching from the field while a helicopter maneuvers above.


Sokcho Airport, where the helicopters were being refueled.


Water tanker helicopter.

I awoke this morning and went into the kitchen where I smelled smoke. I merely wondered what the neighbours were cooking. Later, I went to meet a group to plant trees near Sokcho Beach. No-one was there and when I called, I was told the planting was cancelled due to the fire. When I heard Naksan was on fire, I was very concerned for the temple. Somewhat stupidly, I rode my bike there.

On the way I kicked myself for leaving my apartment windows open (I'm home now, typing this- the apartment may smell like smoke; after having been to Naksan, I probably can't smell smoke very well right now). I also wondered about the wisdom of riding into thicker smoke at a time when I was breathing so deeply.

The people at the local Yangyang Tourism office were at work so the area surrounding Naksan wasn't being evacuated. We watched trucks and helicopters come and go. I questioned some soldiers and bought drinks which I later gave to some fire fighters.

From Naksan, I went inland and saw many groups of fire fighters heading into and out of the woods. Helicopters were constantly in evidence but I didn't actually see any water being dumped. The wind was strong enough that I had to lean into it while riding.

Reaching a crossroads, I headed North, passing the old Sokcho airport, now being used to refuel the helicopters and headed home.

IMMEDIATE UPDATE:
YTN showed footage of the fire and it was by no means small. Reports are that Kwandong students have returned to campus and that the fire either under control or soon will be.


3:00pm
The highway between Yangyang and Sokcho has apparently been closed.

4:00pm
The fire has reached Naksan Temple and Naksan Beach hotel. The situation is clearly bad but I don't know how bad as yet.

5:00pm
I see something about Ui-seung Dae and Ryeon Hong Am on YTN news but I can't read enough Korean to know if they are damaged or if they have escaped damage. Ui-seung Dae is a pavilion for watching the sunrise and is on a cliff right above the ocean. Ryeon Hong Am is also next to the ocean (it's a small, uh, attached temple, related to, but not administratively connected with Naksansa.) These two places are as far to the east as you can go without getting wet feet; I can't see how they could be damaged without the other buildings being affected first. However, as I said before, there are some crazy winds today. They are whistling through my apartment as I type and I can smell smoke on them again.

6:00pm
Highway 7, running past Naksansa, has been reopened.
Flying Yangban notes that 1,600 people have evacuated their homes.

9:00pm From the papers
Chosun
Yangyang County issued a disaster warning as traffic
came to a standstill after authorities, in an effort to
block the path of the fire, closed nearby roads. Some
40 helicopters and 6,000 firefighters were mobilized
to put out the blaze.

Hankooki
Some 5,600 firefighters, police, military personnel
and government officials had difficulties bringing
the fire under control due to strong wind reaching
a maximum velocity of 26 meters per second.

The Korea Forest Service (KFS) dispatched 15
helicopters to battle the fire, pouring water to
contain the flames, beginning at 6 a.m. yesterday.
The dispatch of helicopters was delayed due to
the strong wind.

That's it for me. I may try to visit the temple tomorrow before work, but I'll put that in a separate post.

Ssireum practice

You don't often find shirtless Koreans, even on a beach. I was surprised when several boys, wearing only shorts and sashes ran by. I was wearing a T-shirt but I was cold; these kids didn't even have shoes on.

I'm not sure about posting pictures of minors. They happily posed but I felt I should keep them anonymous.
ssireum warmup

Oh, Ssireum as a Korean martial art, only slightly similar to Japanese Sumo. In Ssireum, you must keep both hands holding your opponent's sash.

Foreign teachers can relax a little.

The Chosun has an article about another article posted somewhere (location not given in the Chosun) online. The Chosun quite reasonably gives a lot of qualifiers about the identity of the poster but the author claims to be a teacher who recommends bribes.

She said there was a direct correlation between gifts and
the care she takes of children. "Parents who never visit
teachers in charge of their kids throughout the year
behave poorly. I take special care of a pupil whose
parents gave me an embroidered cushion worth
W150,000 (US$150), in consideration of their
sincerity," she said.

Her excuse seems to be that everyone is doing it.

"I am aware that some of my pupils are at a
disadvantage because their parents fail to
give me presents. But are such practices
confined to schools? Bribery is rampant in
corporations and public agencies."

She also says that she receives an insufficient salary. I don't know how much an elementary teacher in Seoul makes but elementary teachers in Kyoungsangnamdo start with a significantly higher salary than a police officer.

After reading the title, I wasn't sure how I felt. Many students have bought me coffee but I would say that I spend as much on each class as I receive in gifts. In a semester, I will have three or four games and contests and bring prizes- usually chocolate or, again, coffee. The article, of course, describes gifts somewhat larger than can-coffee so I am safe in my disapproval.

Anyway, foreign teachers, who typically don't come from a culture of bribery, might look a little better to the public now that this news is out.

Sorak trail closings

Just last week I remembered that Seorak National Park often has trail closures during the muddy season. I looked into it and the highest peak, Dae-chung Bong, will be closed from April 4 until May 13. Other trails deep in the park will also be closed.

I believe that short trails near Seorak-dong will remain open so you can still get to Ulsan Bowi or Gum Gang Gul (cave). Both are short but rewarding hikes with fantastic views.

Odaesan may also have trails closed. Last year, I went to So Gum-gang with my full hiking gear. I knew I didn't have time to cross the park but I planned to go a few hours in, then back out again. I had lots of water and food, my hiking stick and other bits of gear, only to go thirty minutes in and finding my way blocked. The waterfall at the turn-around point was beautiful but I had hoped to go much further.

Oh, a comment on Korean place names. I thought I was hiking at 'Salt River' (So-gum Gang) and no one understood. Finally, I learned that the area is called 'Little Gum-gang' (So Gum-gang). Gum-gang Mountain, in North Korea, is so beautiful (so they tell me) that many places in Gangwon Province try to cash in on the name.

More sleeping students

I keep my digital camera handy during class in order to catch the ocassional sleeper. There were three, but the rightmost one woke up as I lifted the camera. As his face was clearly visible and recognizable, I cut him out of the photo. I try not to post identifiable faces.


Sleep in class, get posted on the net!

Last semester, I caught two students sleeping, one of them twice. Their photos are here, here and here.

Last Snowfall?, Dust can't be far away!

The Joongang Daily Online posted a picture of the East Coast's recent snowstorm, noting that it was expected to be the last of the year.

I'm not normally a pessimist but I realized that officially stating that it was the last snow of the year means that the next weather event would soon be arriving. The dreaded 'yellow dust' or Hwang Seo.
hello, Hwang-seo

Indeed, after a little searching, I found that Korea has recently set up dust observatories with China in China.

If you didn't know, hwang seo is dust caught by the wind and taken from, I think, the Gobi Desert and dumped, well, everywhere East of there. I think that some of th eGobi locations are dump sites for heavy metals, industrial waste and possibly even radioactive material. Anyway, it's bad stuff to be breathing.

I didn't notice it my first spring in Korea but I did think that Koreans did a lot of off-road driving in the spring. Funny how rain can make the roof of a car dirtier.

Spring 2001 or '02 in Seoul was a bad time. Visibility dropped to a hundred metres or so and everyone was terrified to be outside. People wore masks or breathed through their shirts. Dust actually piled in small drifts against curbs.

Any time of the year, Koreans are worried about dust. I have been told not to shake out clothing or blankets in the house. "Too much dust!", they say.

One great thing about the spring: soon the mountain flowers and cherry blossoms will be out. Yes, even I, a somewhat macho (macho wannabe?) guy, loves the flowers here. Soon there will be cherry blossoms, pear and apple blossoms and Jin-da-lae flowers in the mountains. Another two or three weeks, I think. I have photos from past year and I will some with more information as I find it.

Earthquake!

Fukuoka and Pusan experienced an earthquake at about 9:20 (CORRECTION: 10:53 - I can't explain why I wrote 9:20??) this (Sunday, March 20) morning.

Here in Sokcho, I was reading the marmot and thinking that I spend too much time in front of my computer when I experienced what I first thought was severe eyestrain. The words got blurry and and seemed to shift. When I looked away from the TV, the walls of my apartment were moving. That clued me in.

Not much happened here but thinking about an earthquake while on the 12th floor of a building is frightening.

Pusan, hang on. A 20 inch (55cm) tsunami is coming!

UPDATE:
The Korean Meteorological Association is taking some heat for not issueing a tsunami warning fast enough. From the Chosun:

The KMA is supposed to put out warnings within 15
minutes of a temblor, but Sunday’s warning came 12
minutes late. The KMA earthquake center said it took
some time to analyze the location of the epicenter and
effects the quake would have in Korea.

But experts say a tsunami would have struck Korea’s
southern coast no more than 10 minutes after the KMA
warning, rendering it virtually useless. Park Hyeong-ju of
Kyungwon College Disaster Management Department said
this was a typical example of Korea’s lax attitude toward
disaster prevention.

The KMA said it would upgrade equipment and personnel
so that as to be able to issue warnings within 10 minutes
of an earthquake by 2007.

There are many reasonable complaints about slow moving government officials. This seems like a cheap shot. I guess we are lucky that the tsunami was expected to be about 20 inches or 50 cm- unnoticable, really. In the future, tsunamis of nightmarish size might be created in the small space between Korea and Japan and a quicker tsunami warning would be important.

No, it wouldn't. This is what I picture. A giant earthquake underwater. A pulse of water moving hundreds of kilometres an hour. A warning system sends a message to all broadcasters and cellular networks within a few minutes. The news, of course, preempts all TV and Radio within one minute of the call (Impossibly fast, I suspect). Additionally, the entire nation's cellphones or whatever they will have in 2 years time buzz or ring. People look at their devices...

Then look up at the wall of water.

The time for this tsunami was 10 minutes to shore. That's not much time even for a perfect system. I guess the rescue teams can get ready to find survivors.

"Daemado is ours!" sign in Sokcho

Background (for my mother or Canadian friends or people in Korea who just crawled out of a hole): Recently, a prefecture in Japan announced a new Named Day on the calendar (Like Secretary's day...not exactly a bank holiday). The day would be in honour of Takeshima and encourage Japanese interest in and ownership of Take Island. However, Dok-do ( The Korean name) has been in Korean hands for a long time. Who had it first, I don't know. The Koreans are more than a little upset. They currently, uhh, own, possess, control the island with a small police force on the island. Nobody cares too much about the island itself but the fishing grounds around it are important. Two days ago, the Korean city of Masan announced a new Named Day: Daema-do Day. About 600 years ago, a fleet left Masan and took over the Japanese island of Tsushima (Korean: Daema-do). Tsushima is currently a Japanese Island.

I saw this sign this morning. It says "Dok-do is ours. Daema-do is ours, too!" The sign includes advertising for Bu-bu Hairstylists (I fuzzed out most of the number) so I guess the sign represents their opinion. And that they feel their opinion is common enough to make them attractive to customers.


Daemado fever is spreading!

When I heard about Masan planning a 'Daemado Day', I was a little amused. Seeing this sign here, a long way from Masan, geographically and economically, I am beginning to feel concern. It's too easy for a foriegner to sit back and enjoy the strange goings on in a foriegn country. I don't think that I can get directly involved in the whole Dok-do-Takeshima debate (I feel the Daemado-Tsushima aspect is only a tit-for-tat phenomenom. Dok-do is the important one), but I should try to get more involved in Korea in general.

Anyway, the day after Masan announced Daemado Day, many foriegn bloggers complained about the childish behavior of Koreans. However, the Korean National government has asked Masan to calm down and consider cancelling Daemado Day. The Japanese National government has not done this thing. It's possible that Korea is trying to do the right thing this time.

Wild Boars somewhere in Yangyang

A coworker of mine once told me he saw boars come down off a hill by our apartment and into a farmer's field, then leave again. I didn't believe him (sorry, Bill).

Today, I found this picture in the Joongang online paper showing four or more wild boar.
wild boars

I don't know where this picture was taken. Yangyang is a district with several villages and a small town (Yangyang). It reaches up into part of Seorak National Park and covers a lot of empty (ok, relatively empty) mountain and river areas. I'll be hiking next week, I think and I'll have my eyes a little wider than usual. The one thing I miss about hiking here as apposed to Canada is, in Canada, you often have the chance to see wild animals larger than squirrels. Even when you don't see them, you always know you might. Maybe this picture will bring a bit of that thrill back into my travels.

By the way, to me, 'I saw 3 boar.' looks better than 'I saw 3 boars.' Anyone care to tell me which is right?

Takeshima vs. Daemado!

Everywhere in Korean media we hear about Japanese claims on the (possibly) Korean island of Dok-do (the Japanese call it Takeshima). One prefecture in Japan has announced a new holiday, 'Takeshima Day'.

In a "Well, they started it" kind of move, Masan, Gyoungsangnamdo (Korea) has announced a 'Daemado' day. Daemado is the Korean name for Tsushima, which Korea invaded and took over about 600 years ago. You can read more about it at the Marmot.

Gyoungsangnamdo is a long way from Gangwondo and I'm only mentioning the story because I lived in Masan for a year and a half.

I'm not sure if this is related or not. Standing over the city of Masan is Muhak Mountain. It's a very pleasant mountain, a pleasant morning's hike, with great views of the area. But, from what I have been told, before the Japanese colonized Korea, it had a different name. The original name was Du-chuk San. I'm somewhat surprised that there are no moves afoot to change the name back.

In a month or so, Chinhae, a pretty little city next to Masan will have it's annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The blossoms fall thick as snow and hiking the mountains nearby is a surreal experience as the light penetrating so many leaves has a wonderful feel with a slight pink tinge.

In the years after the Japanese left, patriotic Koreans chopped many Cherry trees down as they were symbols of Japan. I really hope that doesn't start again.

Club beautifly-flying lessons in Yangyang

About a year ago, I noticed a plane on our campus. A few months ago, I saw notices for Club-Beautifly and finally today, I visited the office on Kwandong University's Yangyang Campus.

Flying lessons and short charter flights of the area are available. Flight school costs ten million won. I don't know if that is a lot; I never priced it or thought about it in Canada. It's probably too much for me. There is no ground school. The instructor told me it was because of the problems with English, but that sounds strange; is ground school really optional?

They frequently go on cross-country flights to Pohang or Dokdo. The idea of flying to Dokdo appeals to me although it's probably priced out of my range. I don't know how the 'Club' aspect comes in. Perhaps, I'll ask about that later. Maybe club members fly themselves to Dokdo.

Here is their website which includes a little English.


Club Micronesia?

If you click on the poster, you'll get a larger image. The only reason to do that is to see that the poster is actually for Air Micronesia with the Beautifly information glued on top.

Gangwon Kotesol Meeting -postponed!

Because of the bad weather, the meeting has been postponed.

Looking outside at 9:00am, I see a lot of sun, but also some ice so maybe the roads are slick...and who knows about the high mountain passes for Wonju or Chuncheon members to cross.

Thanks to the gangwon Kotesol president for the heads-up.

trying to foodblog

I tried to upload and organize photos as a foodblog about cooking Salsa. It isn't working. Below might be a handful of pictures showing, in no order, how I make salsa. This might be salsa that no Mexican would ever recognize; yes, those are olives on the table. Still, I can make it with local ingredients and it tastes fine on Doritos.

Any visitor, please leave a comment if you can see the pictures in the post below.
Thanks. UPDATE: You don't have to leave any comments about the photos -**But you are completely welcome too**! Someone named Steve at Blogger Support showed me how to solve the problem. Thanks Steve!

foodbloggin- Salsa Kwandongbrian Style

Trying to foodblog

I tried to upload and organize photos as a foodblog about cooking Salsa. It isn't working.

UPDATE: The good people at BLOGGER told me how to fix the photo problem: use FIREFOX browser instead. Thanks Steve at Blogger Support!

Below might be a handful of pictures showing, in no order, how I make salsa. This is probably salsa that no Mexican would ever recognize; yes, those are olives on the table. Still, I can make it with local ingredients and it tastes fine on Doritos.



just begun. My ingredients
Here are my ingredients. 9 tomatoes, 4 green, 2 red and 1 yellow sweet pepper, Pickled Valley brand Hot Chili Peppers (10), some garlic, an onion (I used half), salt, olives (I just had them around and wanted to use them up) oregano and cider vinegar. Don't be shy with the vinegar.



removing the stems with my Swiss Army Knife


After boiling the tomatoes for a minute, I remove the stem with my Swiss Army Knife. I find it easier to control than my big chopping knives. I don't think I should boil the tomatoes so long; it just takes a few seconds for the skin to loosen for easy peeling. I figure, though, I'm going to cook them anyway, so longer won't hurt.

I use knives a lot. One of my hobbies is wood carving. Another is Hai Dong Gum Do, a kind of swordsmanship using what most Canadians would call a Japanese Katana. It is a wonder that I am so slow and clumsy with knives then.

I like using my Swiss army knife for removing the stems because it is a good length for the job. Despite that, I did poke the hand holding the tomato once (only once! Hurray!). Luckily, there was no blood.

I also need to learn how to chop veggies better. I was about an hour chopping up the green, red and yellow peppers.


wash
I frequently forgot to wash veggies in Canada, but having worked on a farm in Korea, I don't forget much nowadays.


ready after an hour to cool
I can't actually see the pictures as I type this. One of these (above or below) pictures is of the salsa in a tupperware box and the other is of three jars and the tupperware box. Although it is finished, you should let it cool for a few hours. The cooling lets the flavors 'marry' (I'm pretentious- I don't know what that means, I just read it somewhere and it sounded good).

Of the three jars, the smallest is just the 'pot likker'. That's Southern for the excess fluid that I chose not to boil away. I like to scoop out and save it for future cooking. I could have boiled it down but I wanted to try to keep the cooking time down to one hour this time.


result of two hours cooking.

Temporary outlet blitz in Sokcho

One finds these short-term outlet shops all the time in Korea. First, all areas nearby are wallpapered with ads offering 90%-50% discounts. That seems a strange way to write it unless, they mean the prices are 90%-50% of the total - 10-50% discounts. I don't know. Then a few empty shops fill with sports clothes and junk for a week or two then are gone.

One opened today in Sokcho, next to E-mart. While I wouldn't normally shill for these shops, I was excited to see footwear in my size. My feet are 300mm or size 12 and normally I have to go to Seoul to see anything above 280cm. I usually go to Gumgang in Myoungdong, which has casual or work shoes but they seem to pick the most expensive or ugliest or frilliest shoes and make large sizes of them only.

Anyway, the outlets have running shoes that fit me so if any other big-footed foreigner will be in Sokcho in the next week, you might want to look into it.

One of the shops had a variety of products, including a few laser pointers. Now my classes are small; seminar sized, so I don't need a pointer but the ones I saw would keep my student's attention. On movies, you often see pistols with laser sights. At the outlet, I saw switchblade knives with laser pointers. I guess that if you frequently throw your knife and have trouble hitting the target, a laser sight might be useful. I think I might be terrified if my teacher ever had one.

Gangwon Kotesol meeting

I've known a little about Kotesol for a while. A Hai Dong Gum Do buddy was Gangwon president or something, maybe last year. Anyway, while taking the bus home from Yangyang, another foreigner got on and we talked. He's big in Kotesol and told me of the next meeting. From their website:

Our first meeting of this new year is set for Satuday
March 12th from 3 to 5pm at the Sokcho Office of Education.

To start this season, we’re pleased to offer a special
presentation by Jason Renshaw on the theme of writing.
Jason is a motivated & experienced speaker with lots of
knowledge about teaching writing in the Korean classroom.
This promises to be a valuable & fun workshop that will also
provide practical materials for use with your classes.

He told me that he would post details of how to get there on the site but I think I found a map here. The map is below and above. I'm not sure what the problem is but I only get an 'X' in this post.

UPDATE: Problem fixed. The picture is below. If you can't read Korean I gues you could print out the map and take a bus to Anam Plaza (That's bottom-centre on the map), then show a taxi driver the education building (Inside the pink circle). I could be more helpful, but I tried to fix this post a half dozen times already so you're getting the lazy version.


second attempt


On Sunday, Waterpia is having a discount day with locals (ID with Sok-cho) getting in for 6,000won instead of 25,000won. Out-of-towners can also get the same price with a coupon. There's a great mok-yok, a so-so wave pool (lifejackets required and for rent) and some heated outdoor pools. I think the Sokcho Kotesol people are going to encourage visitors to stay overnight.

Update (March 11):
A little 'mouse' thought that Waterpia's discount day was the first Sunday of the month - March 6, not the second Sunday - March 13, coming up. The coupons I have are for the second Sunday but I'm not sure about locals without coupons. The coupons are good for 5 visitors, at least one of whom must be local (Yangyang, Sok-cho or Koseong ID). I don't know if I am going to shar my coupons so I guess I'm just bragging (Meee-long : -it's Korean for 'Naa-naa).

By the way, be careful coming here. We had a lot of rain yesterday which melted most of the snow, but now it's cold and snowing again, so it may be slippery tomorrow.

shovelling in Sokcho 

Snow removal in Sok-cho

The picture below (and above in the next post- I couldn't seem to get the picture to work in this post but it does in the next post above) is from the Korea Times and shows citizens clearing sidewalks. As far as I can tell, that only happened in a few places. Near my apartment, the bakery, "The People of Bread Village" did a great job of keeping their sidewalk clear. Other places? Not so good.


shovelling in Sokcho


clearing the harbour roads

Until Sunday that is. Today, it seems that everyone was out with shovels (cheap plastic shovels that broke after a few minutes, but still out and working hard). Even the Coast Guard was busy. They cleared the roads along the harbor and cleared paths to all the fishing boats in the area. I should say we did because my wife is a member of the Coast Guard we went out together (That's me centre in the picture).

We could only shovel paths to the boats and not clear the entire pier area because the nets were there and hidden under snow.

We dumped the snow directly into the ocean. It was almost all fluffy white stuff, without much in the way of visible contaminants so I guess that's okay.

Buy a car?- Maybe not.

Here are some good reminders for why I don't want to own a car in Korea.

Why I don't want no car.


Don't want no car 2.

The above two pictures are of my apartment complex's parking lot. I leaned out the hallway window to take these pictures (and the one below).

We had heavy snow yesterday. Heavy enough that I skipped work. To be a good Samaritan, I helped push cars that were stuck and cleared several windshields with my Canadian scraper/sweeper thing that is so common back home but non-existent here. Yes, I have a scraper but no car to scrape off.

Korea doesn't have a lot of snow-removal equipment. At my apartment parking lot, snow was just moved around. With the result that the man below is working in piled snow (heavier and harder than fallen snow) that is deeper than the hood of his car.


Snow piled deeper than his car.

There are a few good reasons to own a car. Weather like today's, and it's attendant problems, is a very good reason not to.

Safe driving, everyone!

Movie review- Windstruck

I don't know if I'll do many reviews, but it's nice to have a DVD player and so be able to watch Korean movies with sub-titles. Don't expect too many long reviews here!

Windstruck- 내여자친구를소개합니다.
This is a movie of two parts. The first is pretty funny although the romantic scenes are a little too cute for my taste. The second part is one hour of unrelieved crying (not by me, I'm too tough..Okay, I didn't cry but only because the sad parts were overdone and that had a distancing effect on me).

Jun Ji-hyun is very easy to look at and she will be instantly recognizable from her commercials. This is for two reasons. First, her commercials are everywhere and second, many of the movie scenes have the same feeling as her commercials. The part where the two drive a jeep along backroads had me waiting for her to say, "...My digital story"- the endline in her Samsung digital camera ads. She also conspicuously ate a cereal and yogurt mix that she advertizes for and I suspect that she is in Giordano commercials becuase she wore their clothes in several scenes.

The male lead was fine. He was the straight man for Ji-hyun's antics so he didn't have the same presence. Also, he dies in the first hour and I mainly remember Ji-hyun crying for the entire second hour.

The police work had me frightened. You don't see the heroes in many films gun down the bad guys in the back in films. Do they do that here?

There are many better Korean films out there. Do yourself a favor and watch them instead.

Maybe I'm not such a good teacher

Classes at my university started March 2. There is still a lot of confusion among students as to where to go so the classes this week are just get-to-know-you sessions. Yesterday, in two classes, I had a total of four students.

Today, Friday, I took the day off, skipped classes and just stayed home and watched movies (I'm trying to decide if I liked 'Sky Captain and the world of Tomorrow'- it was interesting but the special effects made the image blurry through most of the movie).

I have an excuse.

Overnight, Sokcho, and I guess the whole Gangwondo coast, got about 40 cm of snow. It is still falling.

I did some snow shoveling and helped push a lot of cars but that doesn't really fit the topic of this post so I'll write about that later if I think I can make it interesting.

Yangyang Airport in the news again

In a previous post, I wrote about flights in and out of Yangyang airport (there aren't very many).

In a January editorial (I'm a little late noticing it) about government selfishness and, I think, pork-barrelling, I saw this very accurate description:

There are innumerable cases where lawmakers try to
get money for "exhibitionist" projects that would win
them popularity and votes among their constituents but
eventually waste taxpayers' money. The airports in
Yangyang and Muan are such cases: They have become
obsolete because of lack of demand.

Despite being a virtual ghosttown most of the day, the Yangyang airport now hosts charter flights and tours to Japan, by the way.

Anyway, the article was short and mostly about abuse of highway building funds. In my opinion, there's a lot of that going on around here, as well; a lot of overpasses and bridges really leading nowwhere.

overseas adoption of Korean Children

The Herald has an interesting article about overseas adoption of Korean children. Apparantly, there's a lot of it. [I cannot link to it. Somewhere...Blogger. Korea Herald...there is a problem. Here is the url - I had to break it into two lines make the margins fit:
www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/dat
a/html_dir/2005/03/01/200503010012.asp
]

I have a good friend named Vicky, in her mid twenties, who was adopted by an Alaska couple when she was about 20 months old. She was a high school student of my sister's and when I got married and my sister was making her arrangements, she asked Vicky if she wanted to join her. On a Sunday in December I got married and the next day, Vicky visited the adoption agency that her parents had used. I really don't know who had the bigger day; me with my wedding or her, learning about her parents. Since then, she has returned to Korea a few times and met some English speaking relatives. She has had to walk a difficult road; managing her excitement over her biological family and keeping her adopted family firmly in her heart. Ah, I think I may have miswrote that. She clearly loves her adopted family and knows the sacrifices they, like any good parents, have made for her. Her excitement over learning about her biological parents has made her adopted parents a little uh, concerned, I guess.

So far as I know, the adoption agency Vicky's parents displayed exemplary ethics but according to the article some agencies are not so above-board:

...from the 1980s and even more since the 1990s, the
absolute majority of children who are nowadays sent to
foreign countries are born by young and unwed girls
attending high school or college. These young girls in
their teenage of early 20s, often from a middle-class
background, are locked in secretly at maternity homes
belonging to the adoption agencies as soon as they get
to know that they are pregnant. At the maternity
homes, they are persuaded to relinquish their children
to save the honor of their families and in reality to feed
the adoption agencies' need of a steady supply of
children for overseas adoption. In other words, a
combination of patriarchal attitudes and economic
greed lies behind today's overseas adoption from
Korea, and thus the rights of both women and
children are completely ignored.

There is a lot about the Swedes in the article as the author is Swedish and wrote his PHD dissertation on the subject. As a random connection in my head:I think the backstory for the lead investigator in the movie JSA was that she was an adoptee from Sweden.

Tricky exercise equipment

I have been aware of this problem since I started weightlifting. The numbers or masses on nautilus or other lever operated weight machines, as opposed to free weights, might only be estimates. I found today that the numbers given on other exercise equipment might also be questionable. Hell, are just plain wrong.

When I was serious about fitness and weight lifting I managed to benchpress 175 pounds, about 80 kg. In early February, I started going to a health club for the first time in many years. Imagine my surprise when I quickly got to the point of benching 80kgs. Indeed, just recently I started doing two sets of 8 X 90kg - pretty much my own mass. I just rationalized it as "I've reached my mature strength", whatever that is; I'm sure I've heard people say that before.

Late last week though, I had a real breakthrough in my running but it ended up smashing my self-delusions. Last week, I started running 40 minutes on the running machine. I maintained a moderate pace through a long warmup because I had previously over exerted in the first ten minutes and had to stop. Anyway, after 15 minutes, I started increasing my pace. Because I had a long warmup and was ready to race, 16km/hr felt as easy as 10km/hr, even over several minutes. WRONG!

On today's run, I noticed that my feet seemed to stick a little when they first impacted the treadmill belt. Maybe because I weigh almost twice what most Korean users weigh, I was bottoming out on the track and slowing the belt down. 16km/hr felt like 10km/hr because it was the same.

When I ran on the edge of the belt, it quickly reached full speed and I found that 16km/hr is pretty darn fast- for me, anyway.

I've never had good balance. I could run on the edge of the track but it wasn't easy and twice I stepped on the running board and only luckily managed to avoid some wild pratfall. I will try a different machine next time and maybe work on my balance.

So now, I don't know how much I'm lifting, nor how fast I'm going, but I can say that I am improving, just how much exactly is the mystery.

A very protective country?

From the Joongang Daily

A man won 62 million at KangwonLand Casino but:

Kangwon Land Resort & Casino said it would
withhold payment to Mr. Seo, because he
lived in the vicinity of an erstwhile miners'
village. The casino was located there to help
residents overcome mine closures, and rules
have been set up to protect them, as the
area remains relatively poor.

So they are protecting him by keeping him from his money? Koreans have to show their ID card before entering the casino. Mr. Seo's was examined and he was allowed in. I wonder how many times they might have let him in accidentally had he kept losing?

Still, this post is about the Korean government protecting it's citizens. I can understand how and why the casino, and several others in Korea, are off-limits to most Koreans even though I am not sure I approve. In general, I don't approve of casinos but it seems strange to open several but only allow foreigners in, as is the case in most Korean casinos.

I have swam at many pools and beaches in Korea. At pools, users are protected by lifeguards sitting their staff office most of the time but coming out every hour to whistle everyone out of the pool for ten minutes mandatory rest. I tried reasoning with the guards; that I had only arrived 10 minutes ago, or that I wasn't tired, but they wouldn't let me swim. Usually, as a sort of passive defiance, when I hear the whistle, I just keep swimming and flip turn at each end so they can't be certain I saw them.

At beaches, I experience the same over-protectiveness. Gangwondo coast has great beaches but the buoy lines are only about 5-10 m from shore. To go past the line is to have the guard wail on their whistle for a long time, they are really very determined or patient. They may also have a point. Despite, I guess, 100 km or more of open water, the landlubbers that rent power boats feel safer just offshore and so race along not far from the buoyline. I think the same bad judgment in handling boats can be found at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada every summer.

Anyway, the Korean government seems determined to protect it's childr... I mean, it's citizens.

Except against fire.

scary weather

I am not religious at all but recent weather around the world sure appears divinely powered. The recent tsunami was the biggest event but today's weather reports somehow shocked me more. Maybe the first disaster made me more aware of the weather.

Anyway, today I read about an earthquake in Iran, mudslides and extreme cold killing hundreds in Kashmir and tornadoes in California.

Are earthquakes considered weather? Again, I am not religious but earthquakes would reasonably fit with snow and rain storms as 'Acts of God'.

If I were religious, I might compare these disasters to events in the Left Behind series, although they happened after the rapture, which I haven't yet noticed.

By the way, we've had an unusual amount of snow in Sok-cho but it is mostly gone now. Gangneung, 100km or so up the coast has much more. Really, the weather here is good to typical for the season.

A few words on unqualified english teachers

This post is mostly for my mother and others outside of the country that might check in with my blog to what I'm up to but have no knowledge or concern about the normal day-to-day concerns of English teachers in Korea. If you're looking for details, look here or here (particularly the 'english spectrum gate' link).

As long as I've been in Korea, there have been concerns about unqualified foriegn teachers. I'm not admitting to a connection between my arrival and the concerns, mind you. However, I was a relatively unexperienced, definitely unqualified teacher when I arrived. I had plenty of teaching experience but all of it was in athletics; teaching and coaching swimming.

I made several teaching mistakes when I started. It took a while to learn to accurately judge my class' current English ability and I frequently used overly complex language and instructions in class. I really didn't know all the rules of grammar that I should have.

I learned though. Some of the things I learned helped me outside of class. For example, I used to speak too fast and stammer as I spoke. Now, I speak much more slowly and clearly. I have to work at it a little to speak at native-speaker speed. I don't mind; speaking slower means thinking as well as speaking more clearly.

I am still unqualified. Again, I have swimming instruction and coaching qualifications, but that's it. After six years here and a year teaching at a private school, I have sufficient, possibly ample, experience in teaching English.

Ethically, I don't think I made any major mistakes in my teaching. I learned on the job and have since helped others learn to teach ESL on the job.

Anti-American American

This article really bugs me. I find a lot to dislike in American politics and culture but, as a Canadian, I find there is a lot I admire about the US. I'm damn glad they're here now, keeping us safe.

The first paragraph caught my attention and finding it strange I read on.

The other night I saw a documentary about NASA on
television. It featured fearless astronauts breaking the
speed of sound, shaking loose the bondsof gravity and
walking in space. I watched awestruck as great minds
_ totally unfettered by social constraints _
created miracles from science and technology. It
made me proud to be human. It made me proud to
be American. It made me understand why many
people all over the world look up to the United States.

I put the 'totally unfettered by social constraints' part in bold but the author highlighted it himself. I knew I would be reading a 'USA is evil" rant when a wonderful and surely morally-neutral event like spacewalking would suddenly be looked at as somehow avoiding or breaking normal social behavior.

His description of Korea as a 'peace-loving country' provided a welcome bit of humour.

There are some well deserved complaints about the war in Iraq but I found them lost in his next paragraph with the comment "...democracy doesn't work for everyone." Personally, I agree with Winston Churchill that 'democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others." Democracy has only really failed when it wasn't for everyone. One of Korea's greatest improvements over the past 50 years has been in it's constant push for democracy.

After complaining about (American) democracy, he advises Korea to 'be free'. Can I be the only one who sees that as quite a contradiction? Does he mean, "Be free like North Korea.", "Be free with Japan's 'help' ", or "be free and ignore all your debts to America for it's 50 years of help and assistance"?

The author had some, even many, good points but so irritated me with the others that I found myself working to discredit all of them.

bidding for the 2014 (2014!) Winter Olympics

My last few blogs were not very much about Gangwondo so to get back on subject a little, I decided to look at Pyongchang's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The subject caught my eye as I looked through some archives at the Korea Times.
I like the Times as it seems more of a NEWspaper than a tourism brochure like the Herald. However, I had to struggle through some pretty bad writing in the articles I read. For example, I read about Vancouver, Canada winning the 2010 Winter Olympics and plans for the next bid.

Last year, the city lost the bid to Vancouver, Canada, by
a slight margin in the second vote, even though it came
first in the first vote but not by enough to secure the
right to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. The failure
stirred the nation, following allegations that Kim Un-yong,
a career politician and an IOC member, interfered with
Pyongchang’s chance of capturing the right in order to
win vice presidency of the global sports governing
body. Kim actually won the post.

The IOC will choose the host city for the 2010 Winter
Games in its 2007 general meeting. Among other
countries competing for the prestigious winter event are
Norway, Sweden and Austria. It is reported that
Pyongchang has a strong possibility of winning the
bid as IOC member countries favor granting the
right to an Asian country in order to give equal
opportunities to all continents.

I included the bit about Canada purely for patriotism (I can be forgiven bad writing at least inasmuch as it is only my hobby, not my profession). The second paragraph is what I struggled with until I realized they meant "The IOC will choose the host city for the 201[4] Winter Games....". The first paragraph of the article does correctly list the date as '2014' but the paragraph about my quoted section again says '2010'.

That was the Dec 24 paper and I guess people can happily be forgiven mistakes on Christmas Eve.
On the 28th, I read:

As Pyongchang county practically claimed the
South Korean bid for the 2016 Winter Olympics,
Kangwon Province on Monday announced it will
launch a full-scale campaign for the hosting
competition.

Wrong again: two years late this time.

Muju expected to have support for it's slopes from the Pyongchang committee but the International Ski Federation had rejected Muju's bid for "Technical and Environmental issues". As I understand it, to make the Nagano slopes long enough, Japan had to make inroads into a national park or some such. I guess if the mountain isn't tall enough, it's not tall enough; Hugh Grant and those Welshmen notwithstanding.

Anyway, the Olympics are filled with politics domestically and internationally and that is the real story here. I wish Pyeongchang the best in it's attempt to host 2014.

Favourite movie lines

I was surfing through MSNBC today and I found this link for a list of 400 movie quotes that will be voted on to make a top one hundred list. The usual suspects are here; clearly I've got to see more Bogart movies, I've never seen the Maltese Falcon, among others.

Two unlikely movie lines stood out for me. Firstly, the line:
378 LUTHER
"Warriors, come out to play!"
THE WARRIORS
Paramount, 1979
ACTOR David Patrick Kelly
SCREENWRITERS David Shaber, Walter Hill
DIRECTOR Walter Hill
PRODUCER Lawrence Gordon
My friends and I watched that movie at least five times. I just didn't think anyone else had seen it. I guess it was popular at one point.
Second, a terrible movie, but really a great line:
352 NADA
"I have come here to chew bubble gum and kickass, and I'm all out of bubble gum."
THEY LIVE
Universal, 1988
ACTOR Roddy Piper
SCREENWRITER Frank Armitage (John Carpenter)
DIRECTOR John Carpenter
PRODUCER Larry J. Franco
If you haven't seen the movie, even more than today's movies with The Rock, this was a WWF bout turned into a movie. It would have been a pretty good Outer Limits episode at 40-50 minutes.

I noticed no Clockwork Orange lines. Am I the only one who asks for "milako plus, to sharpen me up for the ultra-violence"? Or what about,"No time for the ole in-out. I've just come to check the meter." Does the fact that I loved the movie mean authorities will be sending me for some time in a ward with cushioned walls or a movie theatre, listening to Ludwig B. while a nurse gives me eyedrops?

There were three Dirty Harry quotes, I missed them the first time I looked. I might have added a few others: "Is coffee psychic?"

Anyway, I guess half the fun is thinking of lines that should be one the list.

Exercise update

Yesterday, I reached two milestones in my fitness training. One, I am now as fast as I was 25 years ago. I was a pretty small back then and a terrible runner but I'm glad to be back to speed and endurance now. I am proud but embarrassed at how out of shape I let myself become.

My second milestone is even more embarrassing and probably incomprenhensible to most Koreans. I sweat, a lot. When my shirt becomes salty, it rubs and irritates my nipples. Yes, I'm a 37 year old male complaining about sore nipples.

At a sports camp I worked at ten years ago, I shaved part of my chest and taped them. It was a little tough to explain but I could explain, everyone knew English. I don't think I'll be doing that and going to the Health Club.

Luckily, I found a suggestion at Answerbag:

If you find that you get blisters, try out some of the
running socks sold by the running stores. Double-layered
ones work well. They are more expensive than cheap
"sports" socks, but if you have blister problems, then
they are well worth it. Another good trick is to apply
Vaseline to your feet before running. Vaseline also
works well if your nipples get sore.

I guess that's what I'll be doing. If anyone cares, I'm up to 5km and 30 minutes. Next visit, I'll try 80kg on the bench press. The big fitness news is that I'm down a kg. I want to get to 85kg and so have 7 more to go.

The sidewalk, an excellent place to park your car and more

I found an interesting article in the Korea Times archives. Before I get into it, I must say that the Korea Times editorial pages have great writing but seem to be mostly used as training exercises for foriegn school students. I like the articles; I'm not complaining, but there are so many with the byline ***** Foreign School (and usually it's Busan Foriegn School) that I think some teachers are assigning editorials as homework.

The one that particluarly resonated with me was about walking paths (which I extended to mean sidewalks in general). The writer, a seventh grade student of Busan Foreign School, complains vigourously about motorcycles on the walking paths.

Round-shaped stones that were placed in front of the walking
path have been destroyed and damaged by motorcyclists and
car drivers who violently try to pass through the walking path.
I was horrified to hear that the motorcyclists have been using
the walking path because it’s faster and easier than the road
which has heavy traffic and many stop lights. I strongly believe
that the walking paths should be used by pedestrians only and
not by motorcyclists who want a quick and easy way to
their destination.

In Masan, I frequently had impatient motorcyclists and scooterists(?) bump the back of my leg as a way of encouraging me to move while walking on the sidewalk and even through the market streets. Usually, I just flashed them a dirty look, enough to see I was a foriegner and stubbornly tried to ignore them. I ocassionally got an apology, probably because I am a foriegner although I am not sure of the connection. Only foriegners get apologies?

Here is another quote that really only applies to walking paths, not urban sidewalks.

In the morning, while my sister and I are enjoying the fresh
air on our way to school, a motorcycle passes by and depletes
the fresh air and ruins our day.

I also agree with this point although it mystifies me. A small engine such as motorcycles have should only sniff at gas (rather than guzzle gas like a SUV- I am trying to use a metaphor here for low gas consumption, not sudenly bring in any kind of drug culture reference) and burn pretty clean.

They should. And they might if they were better maintained.

In Seoul, I was never bumped, thank God, but frequently heard the klaxon (I've been here too long) of cars driving on the sidewalk and wanting me to move out of the way. Again, I ignored them and stuck to the middle of the sidewalk. Luckily, I am still here to boast of my foolishness.

I just noticed that I wrote the "cars....[wanted] me to move out of the way.", while the seventh grader was careful to use 'motorcyclist' and thus describe the actions of the drivers, not the unlikely desires of the vehicles. As I said at the beginning, the English is very good in those articles!

Anyway, here is one more annoyance about sidewalks in Korea. Cars frequently park on the sidewalk, but also, they park right on the lowered curb for crosswalks. I frequently, indeed more than half the time, have to walk around a car parked so as to block the crosswalk.

Vendors often set up shop on the sidewalk and, though they pinch the walking space, I find them energizing rather than annoying. Perhaps it's the human interaction and the feeling that the streets are for living in, rather than purely for travel. Here in the country, but mostly in downtown Seoul, Jongno and Gangnam areas for example, streets are alive with people just enjoying being out and relaxing.

To conclude, let me repeat Lee Ein-jin request: Please, "No more motorcycles on walking paths [and sidewalks]".

The night sky

I started taking an online astronomy class, just for fun and it is fun (also free!). The course has just started and you can see the first two archived classes if you want although they are mostly just an introduction for the next several weeks of class.

Following the suggestion to look at heavens-above.com (don't worry- no connection to Heaven's-gate), I found that many Korean cities are listed- mine (Sokcho) among them. Now, I'm not sure about light pollution here and recently nights have been cloudy so I'll have to wait a bit before putting what I learn into practice but it looks interesting. If anyone is reading this in rural Alaska (Yes, I'm talking to you, Marci), they would be in a great position to see a great deal.

Although Sok-cho might not be the best place in Korea to see the stars, Gangwon in general might be. By wonderful coincidence, I found a Korea Herald article for an observatory in Yeongwol.

Yeungwol is more famous among foreigners for ripple-water rafting - too tame to properly be called 'white-water' but still an enjoyable way to spend a day in the summer. The article says that most of their visitors come during the summer but winter is a better time to see things.

Because the Herald archives it's articles after only a few days, I will post here some of the travel information:

A 20-minute taxi ride from Yeongwol Train Station
will get you to the top of Bongraesan Mountain where
you can experience the clouds beneath your feet.
Byeolmaro Astronomical Observatory, refering to a
"quiet hillsidewhere one can see the stars," is located
right on the top of the mountainis a clean and quiet
place that offers a clear view of the sky.

There are no buses that go to the top of the mountain so it's taxi or hike (no information given for hiking, other than you can do it) or drive.

Detailed Information
Hours: March ~ October >> 3pm ~ 11pm (Admission by 9:30pm)
December ~ February >> 2pm ~ 10pm (Admission by 8:30pm)
Closed: Every Monday/ Day after an Official Holiday/ Chuseok/ Seolnal
Admission Fee: Adult (19 or older): 5,000 won/ Children (6 ~ 18): 4,000 won
Contact: 033- 374 - 7460 (Korean/ Tuesday ~ Sunday Only during Business Hour
Tourist Information: 033-1330 (English/ Japanese/ Chinese)

If you want to watch the astronomy lectures as I am, look here.

A trip to Ulsan-bowi

in 2003, I hiked a lot. I could climb uphill, with a lot of panting and gasping, but steadily and strongly and pain-free. Descending was agony for my knees. So I stopped hiking about a year ago.

To get back into hiking, I chose a short trail to a scenic spot that I can see from my neighborhood (and maybe from my window: if I hang out far enough, I might see a corner of Ulsan-bowi).

Ulsan-bowi is a strange ridge of stone, rounded granite, that overlooks the city of Sokcho. Although it is part of Seorak National Park it does not seem like it belongs where it is. You hike along some mild-sloped foothills and suddenly the stone goes vertical for perhaps two hundred metres.

Ulsan-bowi as seen from the Tong-il Buddha

Although it is a short hike, it is not an easy one- at least at this time of year. Indeed, this posting is mostly a PSA warning hikers to the area to bring 'Ijen' or spikes for their shoes.

As everywhere else in Seorak Park, wood and steel bridges abound and they are pretty safe and clear of snow. There are some very steep spots and even some gently-sloping spots on the edge of cliffs that require some careful walking and scrambling though. At the top of Ulsanbowi, there is a 150 m stretch that is very slick and I found it a little scary although I made it without spikes. It was much scarier on the return, downward journey and I feel like a fool for not wearing the spikes then.

I have another sort of PSA, or a bit of nagging to do. If you eat oranges, do not think that they will just biodegrade and leave no trace on the trail.


biodegradable?

Maybe they will degrade but not for a few months; Mainland Korea doesn't have the right bacteria in the soil to digest orange peels quickly. In the meantime, the peels are no prettier than candy wrappers. I am proud to say that I carried more trash down to the garbage cans than I went up with. I also saw two old coots with bags and tongs, collecting garbage. They looked like volunteers rather than park staff so good for them!

rare white-bellied woodpecker, I think.

A plaque in the park listed white-bellied woodpeckers as rare and I think I saw two, so I feel lucky today. No, the picture isn't upside-down, the woodpecker really was.

I also saw many other friendly birds, one sitting on a gamja-ddeok vendor's hat so I think some birdseed would help visitors find some friends quickly. I don't know about the ethics of feeding Park animals - are they really wild, are we disrupting natural rhythms or what?

Anyway, I feel pretty good about this hike. I'll probably go out at least once more in February and a few times in March and we'll see about after that.

new law will punish consumers of protected animals

The Joongang Daily (online) has an article today about poaching. Actually, it was just an announcement that a new law soon comes into effect. Now, those who consume protected species are liable for prosecution, not just the poachers.

One of the protected species is 'mountain frog', which could well feed a family. These are big frogs! I cannot find a picture but I'm sure I've seen them for sale at NamDaeMoon.

No word on poaching or consuming salamanders.

The strange thing is the Joongang paper states that the Ministry of the Environment announced the new law yesterday, when the M of E website described the law in August of last year. Is it just a reminder?

Hel-seu

I joined a health club (In Korean 'Health' or, because they don't have a 'th' sound, 'hel-seu'). It's near my apartment and I have a view of the ocean and fishing boats while I use the equipment.

It is the first time I have regularly gone to a fitness centre aside from the one at university where I trained with my sports team. I am not the first to mention this but the idea of going down an elevator so I can walk to the health club building and ride another elevator so I can use a running machine is a little strange. There were two health clubs in Yangyang but both were far enough that I was better off jogging and doing pushups and such at home. Jogging on the streets was relatively safe in Yangyang but not so much in downtown Sok-cho, or any other urban area.

I was shocked at how out-of-shape I was. I went because I wanted to get back into shape but also to strengthen my back up as I had been waking at 5:00am with serious back pain. My back is fine again and my running has improved greatly in only a week. I struggled through 20 minutes the first day and am now comfortable at 25 minutes and faster. Next week, I'll knock up the speed some more.

For me, there are three levels of sport attitude. When I start a repetitive sport (repetitive motions- swimming, running, cycling, canoeing, etc), I find my attention stuck on the total distance traveled, my current speed, how much further I will go and other impatience-driven concerns.
One of the main culprits for instilling these concerns is the machine's display or the easy availability of a clock and such. I rode my bicycle across a big chunk of Canada and even after more than a month, I found it difficult to pull my eyes away from the trip computer on the bike. The display on the high-tech running machine I am currently using shows me too much information and I constantly have to refocus my eyes on the harbour.

At the second level, I can daydream. I can run, paddle, swim, or ride with good effort but little attention given. I think about things I will write (or would have if I weren't so lazy), plots of books or movies I have seen and the like.

Finally, when I have mastered the sport, I return a bit to the first level in my desire to see my speed and such parameters but only to compare them to where I think I must be. I am very much thinking about the sport and concentrating fully upon it.
When swimming, I would look out of the corner of my eye at the pace-clock and think, "that last 50 metres was 36 seconds; it should have been 37. Ease up a bit."
And I would; the next 50 metres would be 37 seconds because at that point I could feel the difference in effort of 1 second. In a race, I could feel the difference of a tenth of a second.
Now, in the third level, I concentrate fully on the sport but can also be aware of what's going on around me. In the pool, I knew who was nearby; in a canoe, I could spot landmarks and wildlife all around.

I never reached the third level, or only did intermittently, while riding. Swimming and canoeing, with their specific stroke techniques were easier to reach the third level.

Anyway, I think that I have reached the second level in my running as my attention leaves the display for longer and longer times.

In other health-related news, I brought my touring bike back with me from Canada. I once rode most of the way across Canada and hope to see a little more of Gangwon and even Gyoungsangbuk's coast. I am sure cycling is 'good for health' but I mostly use it as another way to explore- faster than hiking but allowing more contemplation than driving.

tell your doctor what to do!

I mentioned a few days ago that I had another reverse-cultureshock experience while home in Canada. I just did some research-well, spent one minute with google- and found that I am not alone.

While at home, I saw a handful of ads for prescription drugs. Each ad ended with something along the lines of, "Ask your doctor if XXXXXXX is right for you."I thought, this is crazy! Who am I to tell my doctor what drugs to prescribe? Did I spend years studying pharmacology? And, anyway, why would I want to suggest a relatively new, untested drug? Isn't that what apes are for? (Sorry to all my relatives- animal testing should only be a carefully considered final option after other avenues have run their course.)

From the Health Central website:

Heavy TV advertising helped make Vioxx so successful. Hundreds of millions were spent suggesting that this arthritis drug could make life more enjoyable. In early commercials, Olympic figure skater Dorothy Hamill was featured gliding over the ice in a picture-perfect mountain setting. The message: "Ask your doctor about Vioxx, a prescription medicine from Merck. And find out if Vioxx is right for you."

With 20/20 hindsight, experts are complaining that the direct-to-consumer advertising for Vioxx created unjustified enthusiasm. People badgered their doctors for a prescription for the drug instead of relying on over-the-counter pain relievers such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, etc) or naproxen (Aleve). It turns out these inexpensive products may have been about as effective as Vioxx and a lot safer.

I guess, if you are in pain, any alternative could sound like a good one. Still, Vioxx didn't turn out to be such a good deal.

The article stated that only the US and New Zealand allow advertising for prescription drugs yet I saw them in Canada - on an American station however.

I'm back

I'm Back!

In case anyone was worried for me, I'm fine and will be posting regularly for the next four months at least.

I was at home (my mother's, in Canada) for three weeks (and suffering with Rural Canada's slow internet speeds), home (mine/my wife's, in Yangyang) for two days then off to Minjok Sagwan to teach at an English camp for middle schools students. At Minjok, I was so busy that I hardly had time to post anything. Well, I probably had time but although I could post (and, I think did post one message), I couldn't see my page. Blogspot is hard to connect to in Korea: some of my students can access it on campus but I can't from my office and Minjok was another dead spot.
I am actually writing this before I can post because we moved to Sokcho and are not hooked up to the internet yet. I hope the megapass people come by this afternoon.

It's been a busy seven weeks. The trip home was great and I have one more culture shock related post based on my experiences there coming.

The camp was, well, worth several posts. I meant to post some comments about camp earlier with the warning that I may want to work there again so I had to be careful about how frank I was. Well, I still need to be careful as I recieved a job offer from them that I need to consider.

I will also be posting about the meaning of 'etc' in Korean contracts. From my Minjok Winter 2005 English Camp: Teachers may be asked to take on additional responsibilities such as organizing or judging contests, etc. What does this mean, in practice?