I just learned that my National Security Personnel System training has been approved. Which means that providing HQ gets my travel orders to me on time, I will depart this Sunday for Columbus, Ohio. On Friday I will leave Columbus and go home to Virginia then on to South Carolina to spend some time with family. Its been almost a year since I was home, so its about time. Definitely looking forward to it.

In other news, we had the dart league banquet last Saturday. It was a semi-fiasco. It was held on the rooftop of Hollywood Grill in Itaewon. And that’s what it was a rooftop. No tables, no chairs, and no shade. It was definitely a warm day up top too. The food was good, but you know, the logistics of eating it was sorta overwhelming. Some people just left, but since our team took first place I wanted to stay for the awards. Here’s some photos:

Ok, the only thing good about the rooftop was the view. This is looking out towards the Mosque. I live behind the Mosque. You know, I never liked that “up on the roof” song anyway. Now I can attest that it is pure BS. At least in the summertime.

As I mentioned, finding a comfortable position for eating was difficult. Ji Yong and Gina from the Bless U pub were doing alright, but Koreans are a lot better at sitting on the hard ground than I am…

Duke and Johnny didn’t seem to mind standing out in the direct sunlight. To hell with that….

The chow line was also in the sun. Trust me, I avoided the deviled eggs and potato salad….

Chris was occupying about the only shade to be found….

The highlight of the afternoon (such as it was) was the presentation of awards. Here Jim and I accept the first place plaque for Dolce Vita. Damn, am I really as fat as this picture makes me appear? Naw, couldn’t be, must be some optical illusion created by the intense sunlight. Yeah, that’s it…. Anyway, I also got a nice plaque for taking second in the league tournament and each member of Dolce Vita got a cool mug with our name engraved. Very nice….

After the awards ceremony was dispensed with, we all moved over to the Blue Frog for the banquet dart tourney. Here we are warming up (I didn’t have the guts to take a flash picture during actual play).

Tae Shin gives Tom some Korean first aid. No clue what that was about. Partners for the tourney were selected by blind draw. As fate would have it, I drew Tae Shin for a partner. I played with her and against her on a couple of occasions, and generally have better luck when she is on my side…

The tourney bracket board. Not sure if you can make it out or not, but Tae Shin (who goes by TS) and I started out fine (we are in the number 7 slot if that helps), then got knocked into the losers bracket by Sean and Max. We then proceeded to play our butts off up the losers bracket until we encountered Sean and Max again on their way down. We played a hard fought 3 leg match which came down to the last dart in 01, but we just couldn’t hit our out. Alas. Tae Shin is Sean’s fiancee and I asked him later if he had her throw the game. He denied it. Still, there were a lot of good players throwing, and we took 4th overall. I was not unhappy with that result and we played a lot of games and drank some beer in the shade.

The Dolce Vita players present all finished in the money. Here’s Jim with his partner Adam accepting the 8th place payout Adams T shirt was pretty cool, it says: “Keep staring, I might do a trick”, which many Westerners in Korea can relate too….

Tae Shin and me proudly accepting our 4th place reward…we each got 40,000 Won in those envelopes. Woo Hoo! Oh yeah, in the door prize drawing I also won a dart board. My lucky day…

Duke and his partner CH took second place. As you can see, CH is not happy about that. They went all the way through the winners bracket only to be defeated twice in a row. That stings, but still, second place was worth 100,000 each…..

Sunny (on the right) was our gracious hostess. She’s a real sweetheart. Note the green frog on the bar. The frog on the sign out front is green as well. Why is the place called the Blue Frog? Beats the hell outta me….

After the tourney it was on to Dolce Vita for some celebration (and beer drinking). This is a picture of Erica, the newest barkeep. She’s sorta of crazy, but fun.

Anyway, it was a good weekend and actually carried over to Monday night I was fortunate enough to take a first place at the Bless U tourney. Mr. Kim and I defeated CH and Rick, so CH was forced to settle for another 2nd place. Ah, too bad.

Ain’t my life just full of excitement?

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!

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.

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.

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 its Thanksgiving Day here in the ROK (or as my Korean friends call it “American Chusok”), so let me be the first to wish everyone a happy holiday.

This is the first Thanksgiving ever spent away from my family. And although I would rather be participating in those family traditions I treasure, I’m not going to sit here and lament all that I will be missing this year (I can almost smell that turkey in the oven). Instead, I will make a fruit salad, bake a pumpkin pie, and do my best to enjoy the festivities at Corine’s house this afternoon. She has family visiting, plus she has invited about 20 people to partake in the feast. So I will meet new people today, eat lots of good food, and focus on all the blessings in my life that I am often too quick to overlook.

Here are the things I am most thankful for this year:

My children, all of whom are adults now, each special and unique and well on their way to leading successful and happy lives. I don’t tell them often enough just how much I love them and how proud I am to be their father.

My beautiful granddaughter Gracyn. Someday I will make up for the lost time at the beginning of her life and will spoil her rotten. Sorry about that Mark and Renee, it’s what granddad’s do.

My parents, who are settled into a new home in South Carolina where I hope they are finding life easier. I know they are enjoying spending time with the grandchildren and their new great granddaughter.

I’m thankful that I am loved despite my many flaws and transgressions. I know I don’t make it easy to love me, and that makes me truly appreciate the perserverance required to overlook the bad qualities to see the good person I aspire to be.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to live in this fascinating country and to experience the joy of discovering the wonders of an ancient culture and its beautiful people.

I’m thankful for the new friends I have made and the old friendships I have managed to maintain. I include amongst them some people I have never met but through the power of the Internet reminded me that I am never alone. Thanks for being there with words of encouragement in my darkest days. The kindness of strangers is sweet indeed.

I’m thankful for all the brave soldiers who sacrafice so much to defend the nation that I love and to help bring the freedom we too often take for granted to the oppressed and forgotten people in this world.

I am thankful for my job which is challenging and satisfying and pays the bills. As corny as it may sound, I am truly honored to serve those who serve and I am glad to have this opporutnity to play a very small part in defending the freedom of the Korean people.

Yes, there is much to be thankful for on this day of thanks giving. I wish you all a blessed and happy day.

Well, I promised a post this weekend so here it is. Wish I had something new and exciting to report but I have really been leading a boring life lately. Anyway, here’s the scoop such as it is.

Today my pool team played in the first round of the end of season tourney. As usual, I sucked and lost three games. Since we only lost by one, I was the weak link. It really bums me out that I let the team down, but without me they forfeit, so I submit to the humiliation week in and week out.

I did run into my buddy Jeff at the bar and we came back to my place, made nachos and watched Team America. I’ve seen it several times now, but it was Jeff’s first. Still cracks me up.

Jeff will be leaving for good come February, and another good friend (Robert) left last week. I know it is part of the life here, but I am really going to miss them. Guess I need to start making some new buds, but that is not something I’m particularly good at. We’ll see.

I am mostly avoiding the bar scene these days. Which leaves me lots of time to myself. I’m not sure either lifestyle is particularly healthy. I’ve been feeling a little blue with the approaching holidays. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite, and it just won’t be much fun without family around. I will be spending the day at a gathering a coworker is having. Her daughter and son-in-law and a couple of grandkids, plus about 10 other lonely expats. I’ll be making my fruit salad and bringing a couple of pies.

No Christmas plans as yet. I would love to take a trip but I’m not sure that will work out. I’m eligible to catch a military flight on a space available basis, Maybe Guam would be nice. Actually, truth is I’m really tired of making plans that only include me. As good as my company is, I’m pretty bored with myself. And now I have shared that joy of boredom with this pathetic post. Alas.

So, I called this one transitions. I guess I’m feeling like I’m on the cusp of one. Seeing my friends heading back to the states, and realizing that I need to get my act together and make more of my life here will hopefully spur me to make some positive changes. Cause I’ve been a real loser lately.

What I tend to do when I get this way is shut the world out. Obviously, I have not been true to my blog, but far worse, I have not been writing home, not even acknowledging repeated emails. It has oft been said that we treat the ones we love worse than strangers. Hmm, maybe I should say that has oft been said to me. It is too true. I have a selfish side anyway, but when I get into this state of mind I feel like I am walking through a make believe world and I’m the only real person in it. It is really unfair and for those of you who have wondered what’s up with that, just let me say I’m sorry and it is nothing personal. I miss so many things and I have found a real f’d up way of dealing with it. So let’s hope for a smooth transition and a new and improved outlook on life.

And hopefully no more posts like this one, eh?

Ok, let me leave you with something I found strange here in Korea. A couple of weeks ago I was making a rare appearance at Sweet Caroline’s (yes, that’s right. Even when I do go out, I don’t hang there much. Too quiet, and when I’m out I want to be around people, even if I treat them like props). But I digress. So, I’m sitting at the bar minding my own business. There are a few people there. Some of the folks from GM Daewoo I had metbefore, and they seemed genuinely glad to see me, which was nice. And a table of Korean men, doing the Korean style thing where you buy the bottle and sit and get plastered. And from all appearances they had pretty much achieved that objective by the time I arrived.

So this Korean gentlemen comes up and starts trying to talk to me, but I’m not getting a lot of what he is saying. He gives me his business card (which I can’t read) but I smile and thank him. He leaves and comes back in a few minutes and tries to chat me up again. I am grinning stupidly, nodding and saying things like “yeah, good time” and “having fun”. He leaves and starts dancing with one of the GM execs, well, not with, more like “at”, if you know what I mean. She wasn’t exactly particpating, more like politely swaying from foot to foot. Then he comes over to me, and I swear I thought he was asking me to dance . Hey politeness only goes so far, right? I’m saying “no, I’m fine, just enjoying the music”. He persists, so I kinda just swivel my bar stool like I’m really into dancing while seated. He gives up and walks off.

Then the waitress comes over and says “Mr. (whatever the hell his name was) thinks you are a very intelligent American [hey, that’s what she said] and he and his friends want you to join them at their table”. She indicated it would be bad form to not have a drink with them. Damn, I do try hard to be respectful and lord knows us Yanks get blamed for everything wrong in the world already, last thing I wanted was to be tagged as a rude American. So, I sauntered on over.

I will preface what happened next by stating up front that I recognize there are some very real cultural differences in the way males interact here. It is very common for Korean men to walk down the street arm and arm and all that. Nothing wrong with it of course, but where I’m from men really don’t touch each other. I’m just sayin’.

So, I sit down with these four obviously drunk Koreans. I am able to discern that they are stock brokers from some city down south that I also don’t recall (I had quaffed a few brews, but I was not drunk by any means). So, they want me to put some of their Korean whiskey in a shot glass and do it in my beer, boilermaker style. I decline. I don’t like whiskey all that much, and I definitely don’t like it in my beer. Did that once and almost puked on some MPs as I raced to the bathroom (I think I blogged that, but I’m not going to look it up now). So, I finally agree to just down the shot, and they seem pleased with that effort.

So, we are sitting there “talking” (if talking includes none of us understanding much of what the other was saying, well, I guess the Koreans understood each other but they weren’t getting me anymore than I was getting them). And then the guy next to me starts touching my moustache. Ok, not many Korean men can or do grow them. And mine is rather bushy. So he is touching it and saying what I suppose was “nice moustache” in Korean. I push his hand away while thanking him “kamsamnida”. I take a pull off my beer, and damn if he didn’t start stroking the ‘stache again. Alright, I wasn’t too comfortable to begin with, but this was just a bit too bizarre. I thanked him again for the compliment, and moved over as far as I could without falling out of the booth. I guess he got the hint, because he didn’t try that again.

Since they had shared their whiskey and my beer glass was empty I bought a round of beers. It would have been rude not to, Koreans don’t do “Dutch treat”. Anyway, we do some toasts and the next thing I know the guy who was so intrigued by my moustache is stroking the top of my hand. Alright, that really freaked me out. I got up and asked the waitress “what’s up with this guy touching my hand, is that some gay thing?” She laughed and said “no, it just means he likes you”. I said, “yeah, that’s what has me worried”. I told her about the moustache incident and she said “don’t worry, they are just drunk and being friendly”. Well, I don’t really want to cause an international incident, but this is just taking the US-ROK alliance a little to far for me.

About this time, the GM folks were heading out and the drunk Korean with the business card had the female exec cornered. She is from Great Britain and is really funny and very kind. She was being very polite, but clearly wanted to get the hell outta there. So, I interrupted and said how nice it was to have seen her again and she gave me a hug, thanked me for rescuing her and made a beeline for the door. I also said my goodbyes, but it took me another ten minutes before I could escape my hosts. I had to promise to come to their hometown for a guided tour about ten times before I was able to flee the scene.

So, that was the only unusual thing I have encountered of late. And no, in case you are wondering, I don’t anticipate a transition to gayness or Korean style touching or whatever they hell that was, anytime soon. Not that there is anything wrong with it….

Well, the title to this post will surely bring some disappointed visitors doing a Google search. Trust me, the title is not a desparate attempt to generate hits on my near-dead blog. I have a funny story to tell about that word.

But first, about last night. It was pool league again. Three more losses. I really suck. That has nothing to do with sodomy BTW. I just can’t put a decent pool game together. The team captain gave me a pep talk, encouraged me not to give up, to relax and have a good time and all that. Well, I do enjoy playing pool. I just don’t like it in a competitive kind of way. If I didn’t suck, I would. But feeling like I am letting the team down while embarassing myself gets old real quick. I would have resigned but most weeks we have the minimum number of players and that makes quitting not really an option. So my self imposed nickname is “better than a forfeit”. Well, the team won the match despite my failings last night, so I guess that’s the important thing.

Part of the problem is that I don’t even practice any more. That’s because I have basically quit the bar scene. In my former life I rarely went out drinking, and I just don’t need to acquire any more bad habits at this late stage of my life. So these days I mostly stay at the house and play CIV III, watch TV, and fall asleep on the couch. Now you know why I haven’t been posting, when you ain’t doing anything of interest, there isn’t much of interest to write about. I’ve been trying to reacquire some passion for politics, but so far its just not happening.

I do have this story to tell from last night. We have a Korean woman on our team. She teaches English to middle school age kids. And she is working hard at improving her own English language skills. She actaully does quite well, but like most of the Koreans I’ve met, they disparage their own English speaking abilities. If I could only speak Korean half as well as the Koreans with “poor English” I would have a much easier life here. “June” (I don’t know her Korean name, if I asked I’ve forgotten it) is always working on her vocabulary and brings a notebook with words she is learning to the pool league every week. Between games she will ask us the pronunciation and meaning of the words on her list, which she then dutifully writes down in Hangul. Last nights words included “guise”, “excavation”, “fraternity”, “carte blanche” and several others I can’t recall at the moment. Me and a couple of the guys sitting at the table would use the word in a sentence, try and provide alterantive definitions, and explain when and how the word might be used. After awhile I got up to throw some darts, and June came up and said I have another word on my list and the guys at the table “couldn’t help her with it”. I said, ok, what’s the word? “Sodomy” (imagine it being said with a Korean accent). I just looked at her. The guy I was playing darts with cracked up and said “go ahead, John. Tell her”.

Her innocence was charming as she waited expectantly for my answer. And my reaction was funny. I am by no means a prude and I don’t think I have any sexual hang-ups, but geez, telling this sweet young woman about sodomy was not as easy as you might imagine. So I fumbled and stumbled, and she wasn’t quite getting it. So, I just described the act. She laughed and said, “oh, something homosexuals do”. I smiled and said yes, but not just homosexuals. And no, I did not give her the slang term for the act. She can find a boyfriend to do that. Anyway, when I mentioned the Biblical origins of the word, she was familiar with the story and we thankfully moved on to other words.

That was the highlight of my evening. Which says a lot more about my life than I might otherwise admit.

I’m the first to admit that when it comes to photography I’m not particularly skilled. Mix in a few beers, and I take pictures like I play pool. But a promise is a promise, so here are some shots from the Independence Day gathering in my humble abode…..

Our primary purpose was to honor Old Glory. Here she hangs proudly from a balcony in Seoul. Many, many toasts were raised to our homeland far away….

My buddy Robert cutting the cheese….

Ribs on the grill. We had way too much food, I sent everyone home with hamburgers and other assorted leftovers….

“Sister”, Corine, and Mi Kwong sample the shrimp. Sister, Mi Kwong, and Mi Soon run Sweet Caroline’s, a bar most of the guests at this party frequent now and again (mostly again). I know Sister has a Korean name, but we never use it as she is the oldest. We call her sister as a term of respect

In a new twist on the traditional American 4th of July fare, Mi Soon has kimchi and bean paste with her baked potatoe (and eating on the floor Korean style)….

Jim explains to Mi Kwong and Corine what he would do if he could get his hands on Kim Jung Il’s neck. Or not.

Kelly works for the Public Affairs Office and was technically on duty. He came by to document our celebration (and eat) before heading back to post to photograph the Army band and fireworks display….

Robert was feeling like a lucky man….

Corine and Mi Soon demonstrate that the US-ROK alliance is as strong as ever….

Mi Kwong visits the designated smoking area. I threatened to send this photo to her mother, but when she told me that would not be a good thing I relented. Instead I am posting it on the Internet!

Somehow I failed to get a good picture of Vance. That’s him on the left. It was funny, we both were wearing the same Independence Day t-shirt (different colors). As he noted, when everyone buys their clothes at the PX we all have the same fashion sense….

Ok, here’s one of me with my “little brother” Robert.

Anyway, it was a fun time. It was nice hosting a houseful of soldiers for a little taste of America. Not the same as being home of course, but we did the best we could.

I ventured out to a new part of town yesterday and took a stroll through grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace. Well, the rebuilt palace. The Japanese destroyed it the first time in the 1500s, and again during thier occupation of Korea circa 1910-45. Still, you could get a sense of how glorious it once was. I was amazed at the size, courtyard after courtyard. And it always seems strange to find an oasis in the urban sprawl that is Seoul.

Anyway, I got a few pics before my camera batteries died:

The point is the place is huge. I’m not sure this captures that, but its the best I could do.

This is where I came in. I liked how the backdrop is mountains, when I just walked in from a skyscraper jungle.

As I arrived there was a traditional Palace guard reenactment going on….

After purchasing a ticket for 3000 Won (US $3.), I entered through this main gate…..

….and into this courtyard….

Looking back towards the main gate you can get a sense of the size of the courtyard and the urban setting.

You could only go inside one building, but there was not much to see. I think the first shot is of a sleeping area. And then I tried to capture the ornately painted ceiling…oh well. Hardly worth taking my shoes off for.

Moving on to the next courtyard was this little garden area…

And this pond….

and this cute child….

and these birds. Cahchee or Cagee or something like that. I want to get a better picture because they caught my interest my first day here. Pretty large for a songbird. I understand if you hear them in the moring they are bringing luck…

I was getting thirsty. The concession stand didn’t have diet coke, so I settled for an ice cold Pocari Sweat. Tasted like Gatorade.

This is the Korean folk musuem. I didn’t make it inside. Just too nice out.

A statue garden. These are found on Jeju island, off the southern tip of Korea. I hope to visit there later this year.

And that’s as far as my batteries took me. After I left the palace, I walked over to a shopping district called Insa-dong. They had some sort of festival going on, streets closed to cars and music and vendors. It was pretty nice, especially after tawdry Itaewon.

So there you have my Sunday in Seoul.

UPDATE 2: Ok, couldn’t figure it out with Picasa, but the HP Photo Imaging had a resize feature, so I think I have the photos up now…..

UPDATE: Hmm, the photos are too large for my template so I have had to remove them for now. Anyone know how to shrink photos to fit?

Well, it turns out I just knocked my memory card loose, so I was able to salvage the photos of yesterday’s hike. Not that they are anything to write home about, but then, that’s exactly what I’m doing. My photography does not do justice to the beauty of the day, but for what its worth, here are some shots….

I don’t read Hangul too well, this MIGHT say welcome to Namsan Park or maybe it means “Yankee Go Home”. Or not.

Seoul Tower, my destination. It was closed for renovation so I could not ride to the top. It reopens in October, so I’ll be back….

Lots of interesting concessions at the top of the mountain. Here we have an assortment of dried fish, squid, and what I think might be octopus. I was not hungry, but it did look tasty, don’t you think?

A view from the top……

What was cool was that from any direction you looked, Seoul spread out before you in all her glory…..

One more vantage point. After winding my way up the mountain, I lost all sense of direction so I don’t know what compass point this would be, but the point is Namsan is an island of serenity amongs the urban sprawl. Quite impressive really.

All along the crest of the mountain are these old fortifications. As many times as Seoul has been conquered and reconquered I can’t say they were as an effective defensive as they appeared, Reminded me a little of the old city walls in Istanbul, only smaller….

I came down the mountain using the road as opposed to the trail I took going most of the way up, and at the bottom is the National Theatre. The marquee indicated some type of traditional folk dancing show would be taking place, but in the afternoon lots of folks were roller blading on the promenade.

In front of the theatre was this statue which I understand represents the celebration of Korea’s independence. I assume from Japanese occupation in 1945, but I’m not too clear on that point.

So I wasn’t sure which direction to go to get back home from the theatre, I just went with instinct and figured worse case I would catch a cab home. Came upon this sign which sounded so final I almost turned back. My instincts proved correct however, and I found my way back to Hannam-dong with no difficulty.

Alright, there you have photographic evidence of my best adventure so far. I’m going to see about a tour of some points south through the USO next month. I figure I just about have enough confidence now to expand my admittedly limited boundaries. We shall see.

It has been raining all day here. I don’t understand how it can be so perfect all week long and then suck on the weekend. Well, I do understand how, but I don’t like it much. I am planning on hiking up Namsan tomorrow, weather permitting. My contingency plan is to visit the Korean War Museum.

Last night I was bad. I have been scoping out some alternatives to Sweet Caroline’s. Nothing wrong with SC’s, its just a little too much same old, same old. I immediately reject any bar where women push drinks, which is probably half the bars in town. I found a couple of good places last night, and wound up playing pool with a guy named Stephan from Germany. I realized that it has been years since I shot pool. At least before I started wearing bifocals. I don’t know if it was the beer or my glasses, but I played horribly. Embarassing ass kicking over and over. The worse I played the more I drank and I of course kept playing worse.

Anyway, came home inebritated and I really hate ODing like that. Wound up on the floor in the bathroom hugging the toilet. It was not a pretty site.

So today I have just chilled for the most part. Ran a couple of errands and bought groceries. Watched TV and napped.

From now on my motto is: Everything in moderation. Really, I mean it.