Well, another weekend is almost gone, but except for the rainy weather this has been a pretty good one. Yesterday I went to Namdaemun market with my coworker Corine. I picked up my new glasses and she ordered a pair. We took the subway over which was very convienent. I need to do that more often, I tend to rely on taxis to get me around. After leaving the eyeglass store, we walked around a bit, Corine bought a tea cup with a built in strainer she was looking for and she also purchased some chop sticks. I bought new batteries for my camera (only 1000W), a handmade greeting card (I have an anniversary this month), and some candy (like peanut M&Ms, only these have a sunflower seed inside). Yeah, I’m not much of a shopper I admit. We had a little lunch and headed home.

My friend Duke came over in the afternoon to use my oven. He baked a birthday cake for his girlfriend Min Jung (who tends bar at Dolce Vita). I also made some brownies. We had a nice afternoon talking, listening to music, and watching an episode of Coupling. Then we headed out to Dolce Vita for some darts. Later in the evening we had a little birthday party for Min Jung. She’s a very sweet young woman and really appreciated the gesture. She gave me a hug for the brownies and when she thought Duke might be jealous, she gave me another. I like her style! Anyway, it was a great day.

I took my camera to Namdaemun and got a couple of pics. It was dark and rainy so they aren’t that good. On the plus side, the rain kept the crowds down a little bit, so it was much easier to move around. I also discovered that it had been quite some time since I’ve uploaded any pictures from my camera (or posted any here). So here you go: the past few months of my life as captured on…well, whatever the digital equivalent of film is….

This is Namdaemun Gate, the historic entrance to the South Market.

Street scene in Namdaemun.

Another street. Lots of nooks and crannies, alleys and pathways to explore here. It seems like mass confusion to me, but it was kinda cool anyway…

A typical shop. The photography sucks, but those are big ginseng roots in jars. You see them all over and they are quite interesting visually.

My new glasses..

Time for lunchee. We walked down an alley full of small restuarants and were somewhat agressively invited to dine as we passed by. We chose a place pretty much at random, it looked clean and we were assured they had English menus. Corine had the “beef rip soup” [correction: it was BEEP rip soup. Thanks, Jenn] which presumably was beef rib soup since that’s what it contained. I had the barbequed beef. I was not brave enough to go for the “ass orted mixtur”…no clue what that might be.

The requisite kimchee and appetizers. This kimchee was a tad spicier than I’m used too, but went down fine with a cold OB lager.

Nothing like a bowl of steamy “beef rip soup” on a rainy day…

As you can see, BBQ in Korea is not quite what we would call BBQ in the USA. It was pretty good though and as an added benefit it was pretty easy to eat with chopsticks. Yeah, I still struggle sometimes with certain things, but I do make the effort. I have stains on many shirts to prove it!

Unlike DC, the subway stations do have restrooms. I was fortunate enough to use the best one in Seoul yesterday. Now, I am no expert in these matters, but I would judge it to be of only average quality. It was a clean, well-lighted place though. I wonder if they have a historical marker for the worst restroom in Seoul?

OK, that’s all the pics from yesterday. Here’s a sampling of photos I also had on my memory card:

The entrance to my home away from home. The Dolce Vita Pub. For those whose Italian is no better than mine, I am told Dolce Vita means “sweet life”.

And when Eun Jung (aka Jenny) pours a cold OB Lager draft, it is a sweet life indeed…

My dart buddies, Duke and Jim….

The other bartenders, Min Jung and Hae Lee were camera shy. Not Jenny though.

Speaking of Dolce Vita, that was the scene of my accident. This is a self portrait I took the morning after. I’m looking a tad rough, don’t you think? Well, it sure wasn’t the sweet life that night….

On occasion I do patronize other bars. This is the way in at Bless U. Right up the street from Dolce Vita. They also sponsored the darts tournaments of recent weeks where I pocketed a little extra spending money.

This is Gina, owner of Bless U, in the process of kicking my ass at pool. Which is still a regular occurence in bars all over Itaewon….

This is the crew from another bar I sometimes visit called Debut. It is halfway up “hooker hill” and when I walk that way I sometimes need to stop at Debut for some liquid refreshment. No pool or darts, just friendly people who provide an nice oasis in a sea of prostitution bars. I guess that’s a mixed metaphor, but you get my point I hope.

Alright, that’s enough of the bar scene, don’t you think? Here’s some photos from my Labor Day weekend trip to Busan (I told you it had been awhile since I unloaded my camera!):

This was taken from the train station in downtown Busan.

Hyundae Beach from my hotel window…

Another view from the window.

The view at night.

It was cloudy most of the weekend as you can see….

The ocean looked dark and forboding….oh wait that’s the opening line to the novel I’m writing. It’s also the only line. And I just wrote it this minute. And now I’ve already lost interest. You are probably thinking the same thing.

“And the tide rushes in, and washes my sorrows away….” I didn’t make that up, its from a Moody Blues song.

Doesn’t every ocean front city have at least one mermaid statue? What’s up with that?

The Westin Chosun is where I stayed. I highly recommend it. If you are USFK related, they even give a discount. I understand President Bush stayed there during the APEC conference…

And now for another change of pace, a couple of photos from my DMZ tour….

Beyond that door lies the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. But I wouldn’t try getting past the ROK soldier. Those guys were quite impressive and certainly gave the appearance of someone not to be trifiled with. Actually, the border between North and South bissects the armistice building we were standing in. I briefly stood on the North Korea side of the room.

Looking into the face of evil. And it was looking back. We could see the Norks in the windows of that building checking us out through binoculars…it was all very surreal. If you haven’t done the tour you definitely need to.

A pretty crappy photo of “Propaganda Village”, a faux city of shell buildings that is uninhabited but built by the Norks to show how prosperous they are.

Ok, had enough? Me too! Hope you enjoyed the show!

I really must be a creature of habit, or routine at least. I’ve settled into my weekly rituals of bar games (and the requisite recovery periods) and y’all must be as sick of hearing about that as I am of writing about it. Year two in Korea is without much adventure thus far, but I do have some dreams about changing that. I’m going to keep those dreams to myself for now because I don’t want to jinx things, but if it comes to pass things will be infinitely more exciting around here. Stay tuned.

Ok, I do have to just mention my dart exploits briefly. Saturday night at the Blue Frog tourney resulted in a second place finish. And Monday night at Bless U resulted in a most excellent first place. My partner on Monday was Mr. Kim (who was on the team that beat us out for first Saturday). An excellent player, but we were both a little off our games. Despite our struggles, we kept finding a way to win. The championship round was a thrill. We played Petro (the dart league President) and his partner Mr. Lee, another solid player. We started with a real cut throat game of cricket, lots of pointing and very intense, but Mr. Kim hit a double bull to win it for us in the end. Then it was ‘o1 (a game where you start with 701 and subtract the total of your darts, and you have to finish by hitting a double out) and they were dominating us. I was my usual inconsistent self, scoring like: 41, 22, 30, Ton, 22 and so on. Mr. Kim was actually throwing worse. and we still had 176 on the board when our opponents were shooting a 16 double out. Then I hit a ton-60 (160 points-the most you can score is 180, which is 3 triple 20s). My next turn I hit the double-1 out for the win. Real exciting finish and I was congratulated on my play by some really great dart players. It was definitely the high point of my darts “career”.

Anyway, also went to Namdemun market Saturday. First time there (yeah, pretty amazing that I’ve not made it there after all this time). Ordered some glasses that I pick up this weekend. I’ll try and get some pics when I go back.

Yikes, I’m going to be late for work! Gotta go.

Not much new here, other than darts. I’ve been playing LOTS of darts. League is on hiatus for a couple of weeks while the war games are going on, so I have been occupying myself with darts tournaments.

Saturday night was the weekly tourney at the Blue Frog. Basically everyone just shows up at 1930 and signs up. Entry fee is 5000W. Then numbers are drawn and you are assigned a partner. Now, must of the participants are ‘A’ league players, then there is a smattering of us ‘B’ and below types. It really is the luck of the draw, but if you get with one of the top players and don’t totally suck you can do well. I drew a mid-range ‘A’ player as a partner and we had a nice ride. Until we encountered the top player in Itaewon (a Korean who goes by CH) who had a ‘A’ partner. We fought valiantly, but in vain, and settled for 2nd place. Still, that was good for a 20,000W payout. My first money winnings at darts and I was pretty thrilled about that.

Last night we did a tourney at the Bless U bar. In addition to the pool from the 5000W entry fee, the bar owner kicked in another 100,000W. In the first round I drew a lower end ‘A’ player. We struggled a bit but held on for a 3rd place finish. In the second round I drew Duke, who has kinda been my dart mentor and also plays for Dolce Vita. You may recall Duke was there on the night of my accident and escorted me to the hospital.

Duke is good enough to be in the ‘A’ league, in fact he is ranked in the top five. So, I was feeling comfortable and confident as we entered play. Duke was off his game a bit but I was playing a little over my head, so we balanced out nicely. I doubled out in 01 twice, had a couple of Tons (hundred point marks) and closed out cricket with a couple of bulls to boot. Anyway, we made it to the championship game. And we were faced with my nemesis from Saturday night, CH and his partner Jim, the co-owner of Dolce Vita. CH is top dog and Jim throws much like I do, a little to inconsistent to be considered good, but dangerous when he’s on, especially when it comes to shooting bulls. So we were definitely the underdogs.

Our first leg (game) was cricket. And it was a slugfest. Lots of pointing (scoring extra marks on a number your oppenent has not closed). So it eventually came down to bulls and I threw the winning dart. Then it was time for 701. We got off to an early lead, but CH got hot and it came down to them shooting for a double out 16, and we were shooting at the 2. And by god, I hit it and we were the champs. Payout was 100,000W. WooHoo! Damn I was excited.

I don’t know, I’m just enjoying the hell out of darts. I’m decent at it, and after all the humiliation I suffered in pool it felt good to beat the champ. Now, 9 times out of 10 that ain’t gonna happen, but it did last night. I’m meeting some new people and having a great time and that’s enough for me these days.

Sometimes I lament that I spend most of my time in the company of other foriegners. I mean, that’s not taking full advantage of this Korea experience. But then again, so what? I’m here and having fun and that’s alright too.

So that’s my news. Oh, we had a big fire on post last week and the people issues associated with that have generated some work. I have some great pics I will try to post later. Now I have to head on down to Dolce Vita and get some pool practice in. League game tomorrow night. My pool is what it is, but I owe it to the team to at least make some effort at improving. Hopefully my good mojo from last night will carry over. We shall see.

Sorry to all who care for not being regular in my updates here. Truth be told, I’ve just not had much to say. I’m into a comfortable routine these days of going to work, playing pool, darts, CIV, and reading other people’s blogs. Which may not sound like much of a life, but it seems to be working for me. I guess sometimes you just have to embrace the simple pleasures and not think too much about what you are missing. At least that has been working for me.

I’ve been feeling alright physically, so who needs a physical, right? Truth be told, it is just too much of a pain in the ass to get treatment at the base hospital. You have to pay up front and bill your own insurance. And I guess if something is seriously wrong with me, I don’t really want to know. Ignorance is bliss and all that. And I do know that my attitude about that is in fact ignorant, ok?

I’ve been having a blast in the dart league. I’m too inconsistent to call myself a good player, but I’ve been winning. I’m ranked in the top third of my division and my status on the team has gone from fill-in to being counted on. I’ve not had a competitive outlet since I retired from playing softball, so I’m really enjoying that aspect of the game too. Not to mention, being old and fat doesn’t affect your game. HooAh! I’m going down to the Blue Frog tonight to play in the doubles tourney. It’s mostly “A” calibre players (I am in the “B” division) but they do a blind draw so if I hook up with someone good, who knows, I might get lucky and win some money. Worst case I get some practice in throwing under pressure.

I am playing pool with more confidence and competence too. Still losing mostly, but not losing ugly. Actually, our team has been playing well but we always seem to get snakebit with bad luck and lose close games and matches. Ah well, its a good group and we don’t get down on each other when things go wrong. Some of the teams in the league are just ugly to each other. Win or lose, we have fun and that’s what its really all about.

Work has been busy but not so much as to be a problem. Arcelia left last week and I already miss her tremendously. She was a good comrade. She wasn’t able to sell her car so she left it with me to sell. It was a pain in the ass, I had to get an exception to policy (only one vehicle is allowed) which let me park it on post. Had to insure it, and register it and all that. She brought if over from Japan so it is right hand drive, which made it more difficult to sell. But sell it I did yesterday. Which meant some more hassle with transfering ownership and all the associated paperwork (took two hours of my day), but it is done. I mailed Arcelia a check yesterday. She wound up with quite a bit less than she was asking, but what she is getting is considerably more than nothing. Which is what she was facing before I stepped in. So, I did my good deed, although I kept a couple hundred for my trouble. (Ah, did you really think I was a nice person?)

Not much else to report. The weather is starting to warm up so I will soon be able to get out and about a little more. Even if it is just a hike up Namsan or along the Han river it will be good to be a little more active. Carol is talking about coming in May for a visit and wants me to take her to China. That’s something to look forward too.

Kevin asked me what I thought of the entire Dubai ports deal. You know, I’m just having a hard time getting worked up over politics these days. And that whole fiasco was pure politics. Cripes, America has been selling itself for years. If I was going to get incensed it would be the sorry state of our merchant marine, that’s a real national secruity issue. Port security is a joke, but that has nothing to do with who is managing the terminals. Hell, the Chinese and Koreans own the west coast operations, why doesn’t Congress care about that?

I think what is really happening is that Americans are waking up to the fact that a certain percentage of the followers of Islam are insane. After weeks of rioting over cartoons, is it any wonder that perceptions are changing? My thinking is that the Muslim extremists are to be more pitied than feared. They are like rabid dogs. Now, you don’t get angry at a rabid dog. You just kill it. It’s the only sensible thing to do. A day of reckoning is coming, and I don’t believe its going to be pretty. Americans are not big on nuance. If we feel threatened we will strike. I think its gonna be real interesting to see what we do about Iran. I wouldn’t want to be investing in infrastructure there these days.

In other news, the State Department just screwed us over big time this week. We were getting a 5% premium on our pay called Post Differential. It was basically extra pay for dealing with the hardship of living in Korea. The State Department decided that life here is not all that hard. Well, honestly I have it easier than most, what with commissary and post exchange privalages. But on the other hand, we are forward deployed and Mr. Kim, Jung-Il has a bunch of chemical artillery shells (and maybe nukes) 50 miles away and pointed right at Seoul. I think living with the risk of almost certain death should war break out is worth a 5% bonus. That’s a lot of beer!

Oh well, as I say its all good. Thanks to all for your kindness and support. I will try and stay in touch on a more regular basis.

I could bite nails. I wrote a long and beautiful post this morning chock full of the wonderful details of my life. A masterpiece filled with wit and charm. I was even going to attach a photo, but when I went to upload it I got one of those dreaded “windows has encountered an error and must shut down” messages, and my brilliant post was lost for posterity….

I am too frustrated to try and recreate today. Tomorrow. I promise.

I’ve mentioned the obvious things: idiotic taxi drivers, aggressive bus driving maniacs, insane motorbike riders, and a general contempt for observing basic traffic laws (lane markings, red lights, parking). But my biggest nightmare is the young children who dart out between parked cars. In the dark. Check out this video clip

I see young kids like this out on the streets well after what would have been my bedtime at that age. And without any adult supervision whatsoever. I only drive when I have to here. I just don’t want to even think about all that is at risk when I do. Slow and steady, that’s how I take it. It’s kinda like driving sober when everyone else is drunk. Extreme defensive driving is a mandatory skill on the streets of Seoul.

Via Hardy and Tiny’s blog.

Whatever that is. I know its been too long since I last posted. Now that Jenn from I got two shoes is back, I guess I don’t want to be the only one on Nomad’s blogroll who hasn’t done a recent update. So here it is:

I’m feeling fine. The head’s all healed and the scar (shaped like the Korean peninsula, cool huh?) is hardly noticeable. I lost 3 more pool games last night, but at least I’m not losing ugly. My teammates think I’m the unluckiest player in Itaewon, which goes quite nicely with my last in the league ranking. Actually, I’m playing much better but part of my bad luck is getting pitted against some damn good players. Oh well, I have a good attitude about it all and I am kinda sorta having fun at it, at least more so than last season. I really like my international group of teammates. We have an Australian, a Scotsman, a Canadian, an Indian, an Austrian, a Texan, and me. I might have mentioned that before though, huh? God help me if I start repeating myself in my infrequent writings.

Monday night I won two out of three dart games (Cricket doubles). I had a good partner, but I pulled my weight (which if you saw my belly you would know that’s quite a feat in iteslf). I’m thinking about going to the Blue Frog Saturday and playing in a tourney. Those are “A” players, but I need practice throwing under pressure. I seem to play better when I’m playing for fun, so I want to get used to keeping my game on in competition. We’ll see.

Lot’s going on at work too. I am supposed to be representing the Army in an arbitration next month over the union’s claim to standby pay entitlement during the curfew. Any of you DAC’s out there expecting a big payout are dreaming, so don’t go spending that money. This week the union says it filed a class action lawsuit seeking pay in th U.S. Court of Claims in DC. Which is not a surprise (if true) but by my reckoning they have even less of a chance in court because the law is pretty well settled on the conditions that must be present to get standby duty pay. The curfew just wasn’t that restrictive to warrant additional pay. The union wants to delay the arbitration pending the outcome of the lawsuit, but we have objected to that ploy. Still waiting for word from the arbitrator on how he sees it. That’s about all I’m comfortable saying at this point, but I do enjoy doing battle on issues like this.

In other work news, we have two people leaving my office. Arcelia, my fellow supervisor is heading back to the States in a couple of weeks. Her time was up and she declined an extension for family reasons. I’m really going to miss her. She’s good people and has a great sense of humor. She has also been a big help in educating me to the culture that is uniquely DoD. Mr. Kim, Nam U who has been with us for almost forever had to retire for medical reasons. A big loss too, it will be hard to find someone with his skills. Thank God my Mr. Kim is doing well, because if he left I would be screwed big time. You don’t replace 50 years of experience. No sense worrying about it I suppose. I just really struggle with the transient nature of relationships here in Korea. It seems like the cheese is always on the move (obscure reference to one of those trendy books from a few years ago).

What else? I’ve been enjoying watching the Dick Cheney feeding frenzy from a distance. I just can’t believe what a big deal the media is making over the shooting incident. Meanwhile they are ignoring much more important issues like Al Gore’s treason in Saudi Arabia this week. Well, that’s about all you can expect from a warped left wing America-hating bunch of journalists I guess. Even my wife who never agrees with me about anything thinks Cheney is getting hosed, and she pretty much hates Cheney. If it weren’t so sad, watching the Democrats self-destruct would be pretty funny. Being blind and ignorant is one thing, but being blind to your ignorance is fatal. I’m not real keen on a lot of what the Republicans are doing either, but I’m all for killing terrorists wherever we can find them. So until the Dems come up with some kinda plan regarding national security beyond “let’s be nice and not offend anybody” I don’t have much choice in the voting booth.

Ah well, things are going pretty well overall in my view. Even Canada is coming around.

It’s snowing this morning, which comes as somewhat of a surprise because yesterday was almost springlike (except the temp was in the 30’s), sunny, cloudless, and the air was crystal clear. Anyway, my cell phone rings at 0700 which was quite surprising since it almost never rings period. It was my boss saying roads were condition red and I could delay reporting until 1000. I was planning to walk in anyway, but it gave me the chance to do some blog reading this morning. I came across a couple of Korea-related posts that I thought interesting enough to share.

The first had to do with General LaPorte’s comments during Friday’s change of command ceremony. Although I have not experienced any overt anti-Americanism from any of the Korean people I’ve met, the current ruling party here has definitely shown signs of diminishing support of the alliance. This post from The Officer’s Club suggests an interesting way we might respond to the “leadership” of President Roh and the Uri party.

The idea of eventual Korean Re-unification has been floating in the ether for years now. The civilized world hopes that it will come after Kim-Jong-il dies/steps down/is overthrown, and the South peaceably absorbs the North like the German re-unification after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The North Koreans hope it will come after they’ve leveled Seoul and rolled over the South. The American military stands in the way of the North, but the political pressure around our presence there is beginning to intensify:

LaPorte, the longest-serving commander of the U.S. Forces Korea with three years and nine months at the helm, always said the alliance was strong. But in his parting speech at a handover ceremony Friday, now free of the responsibility of command, it seems he felt moved to say what was really on his mind. Even then he said the alliance will face difficulties, when in fact it has been strained for the past three years and is now close to breaking point.

Some government officials who value the alliance, unaware of the fact that times have changed, were bitterly attacked when the new government veered toward anti-American sentiment and self-reliance. We now know that some in the National Security Council and ruling Uri Party are in cahoots to stir up trouble by disclosing sensitive information about the relationship.

America, I believe, is obviously getting a lot less out of their commitment than the South Koreans. My policy recommendation for the region is that each time South Korea abstains from a UN vote against the North, issues an anti-American statement, or becomes more conciliatory to the North, we re-deploy 1,000 troops to a more useful location. After this happens a few times, we’ll see how serious the South really is about “sunshine” policies.

I found that link at VodkaPundit who also linked to a post of his from 2003 in which he argued that reunification of the Korea’s will be much more difficult than the German reunification.

Unified Korea isn’t going to be a threat to anyone. Who are they going to invade? Japan? China? Russia? Hardly. Korea is the Poland of Northeast Asia — a small nation trapped between bigger, and often antagonistic, neighbors. No, a single Korea would likely have a smaller (although still very potent) military than does just South Korea today.

So what’s the problem?

Let’s go back to 1989 once more. West Germany had 62 million people, and the world’s third-largest economy. East Germans numbered a mere 17 million, and by Communist standards, they were quite rich. In fact, the old DDR was the richest Communist nation ever, period, full stop. So while reunification was an expensive proposition, West Germany could afford it without too much pain. Also, East Germans had been under the Communist yoke for “only” 45 years. There were still people alive with some memory of how a civil society functions. Easing matters, East Germans could often watch Western TV, and many were allowed limited travel to the west.

South Korea has fewer than 50 million people, and while they’ve made great strides, their per capita income is still only up to that of modern Poland. They aren’t poor, but they aren’t nearly as rich as West Germany was. In addition, their economy isn’t as mature or robust, as the Asian Financial Crisis of a couple years back showed.

Up north are 22 million of their starving brethren. Before the Communist dictatorship, they lived a brutal existence as virtual slaves of Japan. “Chosen,” as Tokyo called Korea, was annexed by the Japanese Empire 93 years ago. It’s safe to say that there is no one in North Korea with any experience living in a politically modern, free, democratic, or tolerant state. Travel is forbidden. Only a small handful of South Koreans are allowed north. There is only one radio station, and it runs nothing but the foulest sort of propaganda. And according to a story in US News & World Report a few weeks ago, North Korea even has concentration camps bigger than the District of Columbia.

Through no fault of their own, the people of North Korea simply aren’t ready to enter the modern world, and South Korea can’t afford to feed, house, re-educate, and re-civilize them all.

Whether or not there’s a war, when North Korea collapses there’s going to be a humanitarian crisis on a scale the world has never seen — 22 million scared, hungry, and desperate people left without any semblance of anything familiar.

And whether or not there’s a war, the United States is going to have to spend an awful lot of treasure and troops to help set things right.

Anyway, it’s an interesting situation and I think the Korean elections in 2007 will provide some clear insights on the future of the ROK-US alliance.

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated here, but the sad truth is there has just not been much going on in my life worthy of note. Well, until last night. Here’s what went down (some details were supplied by witnesses at the scene since I was not in a position to observe all that was going on).

Last night after work I decided to exit my place of residence for a couple of hours. It has turned cold again and I was craving something other than my usual dinner fare (out of a can or out of the freezer). So I wandered over to 3 Alley Pub. I’ve been there a few times but it is not one of my usual hangouts. Unless we are playing there in darts or pool league, I mostly go for the food. Which is excellent and reasonably priced by the way. Menu is varied, but the theme is German cooking. I had a bowl of seafood and potato soup with bread and butter. And a draft OB. Really hit the spot and a pretty good deal at 9000 Won.

I chatted with Tom, an acquaintence I play pool with occasionally, who was also sitting at the bar. I bought a spot in the Super Bowl pool and got invited to the 3 Alley party to watch the game on the big screen TV Monday morning. Party starts at 7 a.m. and they are expecting over 100 people. Sounds like fun, huh?

(forgive me for dragging this out, but my habit is to write boring and meandering drivel, and I don’t want to disappoint my readers who come here for reassurance, i.e. “man, I’m glad I’m not him! At least I have a life…”)

Anyway, after the one beer and soup at 3 Alley I headed over to Dolce Vita. It has become my hangout of choice, and I actually have some friends I enjoy spending time with there (in a Cliffy from Cheers kinda way). It’s about 6:30 when I arrive, and the only other customer is Rich, a contractor who works on Yongsan, who also spends a lot of time at Dolce Vita. I order another draft beer and we engage in some friendly banter with the owner, Yun Jin (YJ), and the two barkeeps, Min Jung (aka Rachel) and Halley (it’s her Korean name but I am spelling it phonetically). They were in rare form and we were all exhanging friendly banter, laughing and having a great time.

After awhile Jeff came in, which really was a pleasant surprise. He leaves Korea on Saturday and he’s been one of my best friends this past year. We had said our goodbyes on Tuesday, so I had not expected I would ever see him again. I had intended to make it an early night, but his arrival called for another round of beers. Then Duke (another Yongsan contractor) arrived. Duke is really a great guy and one of the best dart players in Itaewon. He’s really been helping me with my game and we are rapidly becoming good buds. He is smitten with Min Jung and I am always good naturedly trying to thwart his efforts in that regard. Shortly thereafter, Roger arrived. Roger’s a soldier and we have been talking about a trip to the Philippines and/or Thailand. So “my gang” of bar buds was all there and the party was on. Later a couple of Korean gentlemen arrived, one I had met before who is a patent attorney. He wants to become a lawyer in the States but feels he must improve his English first. Which is a not to subtle hint that he wants my assistance in that regard. We exhanged business cards but I really doubt I’m going to be taking on the role of teacher.

The other Korean was an older guy (meaning older than me, which makes him pretty ancient) who gave his name as “Jay”. He was pretty funny and had an interesting taste in music. He wanted to hear “Cotten Fields” (he was quite impressed that I actually knew the lyrics…”when I was a little bitty baby my mama would rock me in the cradle, in them ol’ cotton fields back home. It was down in Louisiana, just about a mile from Texarkana, in them ol’ cotten fields back home…”. Of course, my singing didn’t impress, so I found it on the Internet for him. Then he wanted to hear “When the Saints go Marching In”. I didn’t try and sing that one, but I played it for him. He grinned and assured me he was just an old redneck. Koreans never cease to amaze me.

Jeff and I moved over to the pool table where we played a five game set, of which I won three. They were all close games, but yeah, my pool is definitely starting to come around. I even won a game in league this week, which brought my ranking up to #421. There are now two players in Itaewon who are actually ranked lower. Woo Hoo!

(ok, bear with me I’m getting to the interesting part of the story. Really.)

While Jeff and I had been playing pool, Duke and Roger were throwing darts. Apparently Duke had put quite an ass whippin’ on Roger. So when they came back to the bar I suggested to Roger that after his sorry display the least he could do was “ring the bell” (which requires the ringer to buy everyone a drink). I was kidding, but Roger in his shame did in fact ring the bell. Now, I didn’t really want (or need) another drink. It was about 10 o’clock and I was ready to head for home. I was NOT drunk. I want to emphasize that point. I had warm buzz, but as my almost stellar pool performance proves, I was in control of my faculties. Since I’m a slow drinker and didn’t want to stay as long as it would take to finish another beer, I opted for a shot of Tequila. After a friendly toast we downed our shots and I began preparing to leave.

And then Jim came in. Jim is YJ’s husband and one of my favorite people. During our earlier banter, YJ told us the Korean word for “horny”. Which I don’t remember now. Anyway, her risque talk (which is quite unusual as she is normally pretty reserved) led us to speculate that Jim was going to be getting lucky. And we were all over him with that kind of talk as soon as he came in.

I remember laughing and standing up to slap him on the back and then I started to cough (the lingering effect from my recent bout with the cold/flu bug). So as not to be rude, I walked away from the bar towards the restroom…

And the next thing I know is I am lying on the floor. Surronded by the worried faces of Duke, Jim, Jeff, Roger and the Dolce Vita staff. My shirt was unbuttoned Jim was holding a cold compress on my forehead. I was bleeding and they were discussing whether or not I was going to need stitches. I had apparently knocked myself unconcious and they thought I might have a concussion. Duke told me later that he had seen the whole thing. As I walked towards the restroom, I had tripped on my own feet and went head first into the pointed end of the wall and dropped to the floor like a rock.

Laying there I didn’t feel much pain, but I was extremely embarrassed. I maintain that the fall was me being a total klutz, not a hopeless drunk. But I surmised it might appear otherwise. I will say in my own defense that I have had MUCH more to drink and not fallen on my ass (or my head). So that was my main concern, I wanted to reassure everyone I was ok and I told them I didn’t have a drinking problem…I get drunk, I fall down, no problem. Yeah, old joke but not one you tell after getting drunk and falling down, right? I hope that came across at least, because my pride hurt much more than my head.

So they helped me to my feet and led me back to my bar stool. I remember sitting down. Then the next thing I remember I was looking up into those same worried faces again. Apparently I had some kind of seizure, got red in the face and appeared to be having trouble breathing. I’m told they picked me up from the bar stool and laid me back on the floor and Duke put his fingers in my mouth to keep my tongue out of my throat. This time when I came to I actually felt quite a bit better than when I had set back down at the bar. They were all pretty freaked out though, because it appeared I was bleeding from the mouth during the seizure. I’m actually pretty sure it was just blood from the head wound though.

I had a similar seizure-like incident several years ago after donating blood. I was sitting at the table drinking my juice and eating my cookie and then the next thing I know I was sniffing smelling salts. I thought I’d just passed out but the nurse said it was more than that. The Red Cross told me I should forego future blood donations. So now I have a guilt free excuse at blood drive time.

Well, this time there was no convincing the Dolce Vita crowd that I was fine. They had already called an ambulance and I was going to the hospital. What could I do but lay there and try to save face by cracking wise. I think the fact that I had a sense of humor intact reassured everyone I was going to be ok. When I told them how stupid I felt about the whole incident, Duke suggested that my cover story could be that I got fresh with Min Jung and she hit me with a beer bottle. Which under the circumstances was a much better prospect than just being viewed as a dweeb who couldn’t hold his liquor. And I remember Roger kept saying “man, I don’t think I want to go to the Philippines with you anymore”. Bastard.

So the ambulance arrives and the attendants help me to my feet and walk me down the three flights of stairs to the street. I crawled into the ambulance and Duke and YJ accompanied me to the hospital in Hannam-dong (coincidentally right around the corner from my villa). They checked my blood pressure and it was normal. Duke has lived in Korea for ten years and was formerly married to a Korean woman. He speaks decent Korean. And of course YJ is a native so they were able to translate what had happened and clued me in to what was being said.

We get to the emergency room and I got an up close and personal exposure to Korean medicine. Now, I was fortunate that it was not your typical US emergency room scene (where I would have waited hours for treatment). There were maybe a dozen patients milling about, but I got looked at right away. One difference was that there was no paper work to speak of. I gave Duke my Army ID and that was all they asked for. Another difference was that there was no privacy, basically the treatment area was open with cots and equipment scattered about. It seemed a little disorganized and not particularly sterile (I noted a microwave oven amongst the medical devices, so I assume during lulls in activity the staff just has a little snack of kimchi and rice or something). Anyway, they took my blood pressure again and while that was happening the Korean police showed up. I guess they thought I had been in a fight. Duke was able to convince them it was just an accident and they seem satisfied and left. Then the nurse took me for a head x-ray (it came back negative, ha-ha). From there I was taken to a table and told to lie down. I guess Duke and YJ had been hustled off, because I was on my own at this point. They flushed the head wound repeatedly with some incredibly cold liquid, then pulled it open for a better look-see. This was moderately painful, but being the macho American I am (or at least that was the perception I wanted to convey) I didn’t let on. During all this there was a fair amount of Korea talk going on, but of course I have no idea what they were saying. In my imagination it was something disparaging about drunk mi-gooks, but more likely they were discussing next steps. Eventually a nurse who spoke English advised that they had called a “plastic surgeon” to give me stiches.

Well, I am 50 years old (shuddup) and these would be my first stiches. It was also my first ambulance ride. So I guess on balance I’ve been pretty lucky all these years. The surgeon arrived and they placed this heavy cloth over my face. It was a little disconcerting and it appeared to have a brown stain on it, the origins of which I chose not to specualte about. So the stiching commenced. The doc said it would hurt a little, and it did in a bee sting kinda way. I tried to ask how many and I think I heard four. I had gotten to the hospital about 11:00 and it seemed to take a long time sewing my head back together. When the cloth was finally removed from my face it was midnight. If I understood correctly they did interior stiches and exterior stiches, which I guess means the cut was deep. Instead of using one large bandage, they used about 20 small ones. I guess to keep the wound closed so the stiches would hold, or maybe they were out of big ones.

Duke was waiting when I came out and said they needed my credit card. I was a little nervous that the bill might exceed my available funds, but the whole thing came to the 105, 000 Won (just over a hundred US dollars). Now there is a BIG difference because I would have spent at least five times that much in the States. So, while I’m paying a nurse indicates she needs to give me a shot of antibiotics. I go with her to an alcove and she pulls the curtain and I start to roll up my sleeve. She shakes her head no, and points to my butt. Oh yeah, I should have known. I read on Jenn’s blog that they are real big on ass injections here. In fact, they gave me two.

Then it was over to the pharmacy for some pills which Duke said were more antibiotics and a pain killer. It struck me that I was getting all this medicine and no one had taken any medical history from me or even asked about allergies. Oh well, I have no known allergies and I’m not on any other meds, so I figured it was ok.

And that was it. I thanked Duke profusely for all his help and concern and walked the two blocks home. And damn it was cold last night.

I took the day off work today, but I’m feeling just fine. My head is sore to the touch, but otherwise I have no pain to speak of. All in all, except for my wounded pride I came out of the whole experience pretty damn well.

So there you have it, an actual Korean adventure. Hopefully, a once in a lifetime type deal, because once was definitely enough.

Long week, I’ll be glad when it is over. Almost everyone at work has a cold and they have let me know they don’t think its a coincidence. Hmm, I guess I should have taken more time off but I wasn’t reallly “incapacitated” and that’s supposed to be the standard for sick leave (I mean you are signing a gov’t form attesting to that fact) so don’t blame me.

It was Dolce Vita versus Dolce Vita in pool league and we (the Lifers) got stomped. I lost two games, including one where I scratched on the 8 ball. But for me, even getting the chance to shoot the 8 ball is a sign of progress.

This is my buddy Jeff’s last weekend so we are going to do a final “Itaewon bar crawl” Saturday night. Jeff is the first person I befriended in Korea and I am really sorry to see him go. Anyway, here’s an interesting article from The Seoul Times that pretty much nails the Itaewon nightlife scene. Now, for the record I have not been in any of the sleazy bars mentioned in this article, but I have been in the neighborhood. I prefer dart boards to juicy girls, but that’s just me.

More soon, it’s Friday but I still have an 8 hour day to put in for my Uncle Sam.

Thanks to Nomad for the article.

Or one year out. Or one year to go. Or half way home. Whatever, I have made it through the first year of my two year commitment to Korea. No great insights on the experience. I am behind in the things I hope to accomplish before I leave, but I still have a year to get there. I remain optomistic (generally), and can honestly state that I cherish so much about my life amongst the wonderful Korean people.

In fact, all the negatives come from within me. I miss my family and friends much more than they know. I have not been prudent with my finances, and that is something that I must correct because I do intend to travel and see as much of Asia as possible in the time that I have left here.

Actually, the positives in my life far exceed the negatives, its just that my nature seems to be to dwell on the things that could be better. So, on the positive side I have a job that I find fascinating, challenging, satisfying, and fulfilling. I really like making my small contribution to the success of the Army’s mission here in Korea. I have been incredibly sad about seeing so many of my friends leaving Korea, but I’m making new ones now and I’m coming to understand that the transient nature of relationships here is just anonther aspect of the Korea experience. No point in fighting change, you just have to embrace it.

Today was a good day. I got invited to join the Dolce Vita dart team. Yeah, invited because I’m a decent player. Tonight was our first league match and we kicked ass on some Canucks from Jesters. I played decent enough to win two games, and I really enjoy my teammates. Hell, even my pool is improving and I do expect to compete for most improved before the year is out.

I sometimes think my life is pretty shallow here, but upon reflection I am spending time with people I enjoy and they seem to appreciate having me around. That’s not so bad in the grand scheme of things. I don’t like my solitary life, but I am learning that I am a capable of taking care of myself. That’s something positive too.

Anyway, it’s late and I’m half-drunk so I won’t ramble on with this boring drivel. Just know that I’m doing ok and expect to be doing even better in the coming months.

Oh, this cold or whatever it is has been kicking my ass. I’m feeling functional again, but still have a hacking cough and my nose is full of Stuff Not Overly Tolerable (SNOT). Well, it seems to be hitting alot of us these days. So to all you other folks hacking and wheezing, get well soon. This too shall pass and all that.

It’s all good.

Well, it was just a matter of time. I’ve noted how some of my favorite expat bloggers have been bitten by some kind of bug. Now its gotten me. More than a cold, but not quite the flu, at least for me. Last night was pretty much sleepless. Kept getting up for water, but swallowing was like gargaling razor blades. Had a fever, with the chills and sweats going on simaltaneously too. Left work early today, there was no point in sticking around, I was definitely non-functional.

Pool league was tonight. I didn’t have the captain’s phone number so I couldn’t call in sick as I planned. I showed up to make sure we had enough to play, and he convinced to play one game since I was there and all. I won, and played pretty danm good in a come from behind victory. Guess I should play sick more oftern. Anyway, one game and I was outta there. Headin’ off to bed now and hope to see signs of recovery with the dawn’s early light.

Pleasant dreams all.

Thanks everyone. Your support and encouragement means alot. Thanks for the tips on the functionality of the webcam too. When Carol gets back from New Orleans I’ll try to hook up via the Yahoo messenger route.

Anyway, I think I’m doing better. I have high hopes and plans to break out of this rut and take full advantage of all the possibilities that my continuing Korean adventure has to offer. Avery is right of course (see comments in previous post). A wise girl for such tender years. I love you too darlin’, and I am so proud of you.

So, here’s the news. Last night the new pool league season kicked off. Quite a bit of controversy too. Jim, whose wife owns our host bar Dolce Vita decided to keep his options open and may play for Ohana, the other Dolce Vita team. Hey, that’s his right. Some of the folks on my team (the Lifers) didn’t see it that way. And as a result of what they perceived as a betrayal, they basically chose to mutiny. So, a couple of my favorite teammates, including June and Quatro left the team. Which makes me the only surviving member from last season’s team.

But what the hell, I’m only in it for the fun anyway. I was checking the stats and I was amazed to see that I am not in fact the worst player in the Itaewon Pool League. I wound up ranked 479. I pity that poor guy who is below me at 480, cause that is rock bottom. Well, I have a goal of winning the most improved trophy this season. I am playing better, but I still lost both of my games last night. We were playing the Hollywood Grill Philippino team. Most of the games were close, but of course that only counts in horseshoes (and hand grenades).

My new teammates are an iteresting lot. Gary is the team captain. He’s from Austin, Texas but has lived in Korea for about 10 years. I think he’s an English teacher, but when I asked him what he was doing in Korea, his response was “wreaking havoc”. Conner is a Canadian from Halifax. He seemed surprised and impressed that I knew that was in Nova Scotia. Yeah, I know my Provinces. Then I wowed him by talking Canadian politics. He disagreed with my belief that the conservatives might actually pull out a victory, but that’s what the polls seem to indicate. Carolyn is from Melbourne and is a really good player. I don’t mean to sound shallow, but she is also really well-endowed. Breasts are one thing you just don’t see much in Korea so I couldn’t help but notice. Gary’s girlfriend, a beautiful young Korean woman is also on the team. Anyway, even though we got our ass kicked 11-2, we had fun and I think our eccletic interanational mix will gel into a happy group. Likely a happy group of losers, but winning is not everything, right?

They have a new crew of bartenders at Dolce Vita these days. Quite nice and a good mix. We have a young college student who is very innocent and pretty naive. I doubt she will last long, she’s just not cut out for the night life. They also hired a woman named Min Jung who is just gorgeous. She’s around 30 and this is her first experience working in a “foreigner bar”. Now I personally don’t like it when Korean’s take Western names, but she insisted on having one. So tonight the bar crowd made nominations. I wanted to name her Bonita and she liked that quite a lot. Other nominations included Sara, Grace, Laura, Rachel, Monique, and April. Since we couldn’t reach consensus, we put the names on the dart board and had a shoot out. Rachel got the most hits, so that is what we Christened her. She seemed very proud of her new name and we had a lot of fun doing it.

yeah, I know. What a life.

That’s it for now. Thanks again everyone for sticking with me. Your good wishes mean more to me than I can adequately express.

…to see what condition my condition is in…

Actually, I’m just wanting to let everyone know I am still among the living, such as it is. I’m real busy at work, trying to catch up on things that couldn’t get done during the holidays because so many people were not around.

In my non-working world I have been doing squat. I’m really just going through the motions these days and have been almost overwhelmed with a total lack of motivation. Don’t know what’s up with that, but I hope it passes soon.

Carol sent me a webcam, CIV IV, and a DVD (Don Juan DeMarco). I watched the DVD last night. I installed CIV IV, but I think it may demand more than my computer can handle because the graphics are all messed up. Land mass is black, and the characters in the video clips look like ghosts, all you can see are the eyes. Weird. I’m going to reinstall and see if it will start working.

I did successfully install the webcam. So, I can see myself on the screen and record videos, but I’m not sure how I can have a “live” view of myself transmitted to anyone who cares to see my ugly mug, which I guess is the point. Anyone know how that is supposed to work? The instruction book does not go beyond the install.

I can’t seem to shake this disquieting feeling of impending doom. I don’t know what the implications are, but if I happen to die suddenly, you heard it here first. I know that sounds morbid, but people I have known for years are recently departing the earth and I’ve begun to wonder if I’m going to be next. Well, maybe it’s not about me at all. Or maybe I’m losing my mind along with my body. Or maybe I just think too much. Ah well. No point in worrying, what will be will be. You’d think though with these feelings I’d live everyday like it was my last, but no, I just keep meandering along wasting time and not taking advantage of life’s blessings. F it. This too shall pass, right?

Carol had a thrill yesterday. The VRE (the commuter train to DC) she rides to work derailed at Possum Point. It used to cross my mind that derailing on one of those bridges would be like my worst nightmare, but thankfully in this case no one was seriously hurt.

Pool league starts up next week. I’m not sure if I made the roster or not, I understand they have picked up some new players from another bar. I honestly don’t care one way or the other. I’ve been playing a little better but that’s without the stress of match play.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m not as down and out as this post may lead you to believe, I’m just in a funk. Maybe if the temperature would get above freezing I could drag my sorry ass out of the house and my outlook might improve. Then again, I find the whole Itaewon scene more than a little depressing. What I need to do is get out of the city and have some adventure. Soon perhaps. Soon.

Happy New Year all.

Spent the evening last night visiting several places, a couple of them for the first time. Not that there is much difference from one bar to the next. Actually, I welcomed the new year at a tiny little place called Debut. The bar seats five, and the bathroom ceiling is so low I had to bend over when I was standing at the urinal, if you can imagine that. But we had about 10 of us crammed into the bar area and we were having as much fun as possible. Lots of people taking turns buying rounds for the house (a benefit of a small bar I suppose). Met a couple of new people, English teacher types. So, it was all good. I’d rather have been home in Virginia or South Carolina with non-strangers, but that will have to wait for a future new year.

No resolutions. I’m fat and have lots of unhealthy habits. My former boss died last week, and I am definitely aware of my own mortality. But I’ll just keep taking each day as it comes till there ain’t no more I guess. What else can you do?

So here’s wishing you much happiness and may your dreams all come true in ’06.

Merry Christmas to all! Christmas is a little different here in Korea. Take Santa’s helpers for example:

I DID NOT shamelessly steal this image from Nomad, it was a gift! Right, Frank?

Anyway, I have not exactly gotten into the spirit of the season this year. I think it is natural to miss the familar and comfortable surroundings that are home and hearth, and this is my first Christmas overseas. But I’m doing alright.

Last night I rang in the holiday at Grand Ole Opry with my friend Jeff. I hadn’t seen him for a couple of months, so it was good to get together again. We exchanged multiple beers as gifts and were in high spirits as the clock struck twelve. Nothing like a country bar to chase away the blues.

Well, there are places I’d rather be this morning, there’s no denying that. But there is much that is good in my life and the best gift of all is knowing that I have friends and family who are thinking of me today. Know that I am with you too, if only in my heart.

And what’s Christmas without a carol? Feel free to sing along….

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Came across this music video which kinda captures the spirit of the Korean dramas (soap operas) that lull me into sleep most nights. And the song is pretty too.

So CLICK HERE. Hit pause and let it load completely the hit play for best viewing.

Just a little taste of life here. Hope you enjoy.

That means cold. As in 12F as I write this. Well, I’m writing this inside where its toasty warm, but I will soon have to venture out and make my way to work. Hope the old hoopdee is up to the task.

Tried to do a little shopping last night, but there was stiff breeze that made the walking around just too damn miserable. Presents may arrive in the states late this year.

Nothing else to say today.

This is the view on this cold (18F) December morning from my balcony:

I am so inspired I might even put in a Christmas CD and get in the spirit of the season. I need to go out and do some shopping for gifts for the family today. So, it looks like I will be “walking through a winter wonderland”.

Yeah, I know.

First snow of the season is falling tonight in Seoul. When I first went out to make my bar circuit, it was just spitting a little frozen precip, by the time I left Grand Ole Opry is was genuinely snowing. Interesting combination, beer and slick streets. I almost fell on my ass several times in the 6 block walk home. Of course, I was walking up and down hills with about a quarter inch of snow on them in street shoes. Only went down on my hands once though. Good thing I made it an early night or I might be lying unconcious in a dark alley right now…

That’s my story for tonight.