I don't blog very often on news articles, that is unless they're just ridiculous or they bring cause to slow down for a moment and reflect. This story is the latter. A baby born in the 5th month of pregnancy weighing 10oz went home with her mother after surviving a 1/1000 chance of dying every single day... miracles never cease...

read more | digg story

Another good night’s sleep! This time however, I had some help. So I was finally able to convince my grandmother that I really only need about half the amount of food that she’s been giving me. So last night I got a half bowl of rice. A bit after I finished eating my grandmother broke out two two-liter bottles of wine, one grape and one blackberry. She told me that I must have only had a half bowl of rice because I was saving room for wine! About three liters later, I knew I was in for a good night’s sleep. Fast forward to today. We did a bit more sight seeing today, we went to the home of a great ancient korean “guy” He is credited as being one of the wisest men to have ever lived in korea, he’s also on the 5,000 won. Then we went to the beach. Korea’s second largest beach has hundreds of thousands of visitors during the spring and summer months.
If you’ve noticed, my digital camera ran out of juice yesterday and so I’ve been trying to keep up using the ol iPhone camera. As I’m typing this I haven’t had a chance to see the pictures but I’m hoping they’ll come out okay. To give you an idea of how many people travel during Chuseok, my uncle drove from Gangnun to Seoul yesterday and the normally two and a half hour trip, took just over seven hours! My older aunt, who lives in Suwon, was on the road for almost 8 hours! (a trip that normally take just under three). We’re hoping that when we leave here in about an hour or so, it’ll only take us 5 hours or so because the traffic should be quite a bit lighter. By the way, the average speed on the freeway yesterday, 20kph! (14MPH!!!!).

On a side note, it’s been a full two and half days since I’ve been on the internet and had sort of contact with the “foreigners.” I am starting to confirm my original thoughts on homesickness. When talking to my friends and relatives, I’ve expressed very little homesickness and basically explained that oddly enough I haven’t really missed much. As I mentioned before, of course I miss things and people, but the type of depression that normally sets in when people suddenly change environments hasn’t even started to creep up on me. This week has helped to confirm that although much of the lack of culture shock may be from the extensive moving I did while growing up, much of it must still be attributed to technology. Being able to chat on the phone, IM, and video chat/skype with people makes the world seem like a much smaller place.

Well, if all goes well, tonight I’ll be able to start uploading this enormous 5 part blog and get the pictures up for you dedicated readers. Until then, I’m going to take a quick nap, drive for five hours, take the subway for about an hour, take a shower and get online!

Wow, what a difference a bed makes! It took me a bit to fall asleep because of the “tootsie-roll” style pillow I used, so I put on a bit of Ravi’s lecture at the Harvard Veritas Forum and after about 30 mins I was out like a light.

This morning started with breakfast (too much), and then we did the chusok thing. We met up with my mom’s mom’s younger brother’s family at the grave of my mom’s mom’s mom and dad. There was a traffic jam at this particular cemetery and we ended up sitting in traffic for about 30 mins on the way up. There were literally thousands of people there doing the same thing. The grandmother’s brought food from their gardens along with some dishes they had made. We then served the ancestors as a way to remember and thank them for what they’ve given us, and partook of the food. On a side note, I found out that the term “one for the homies” might actually have originated in Korea! As you can see in the picture, yup, that’s my small grandpa pouring out a glass of soju for his dad. (and you thought it was a gangsta thing!) Well we’re back home, don’t know what’s on the agenda for today (my aunt and uncle still want to go hiking, although my grandpa keeps asking why they’d invite me here to hang out with the family to make me walk up a freak’n mountain.) We’ll see.

Well, it’s almost dinner time and we just got back from the ocean. It seems that Gangnun beach if you want to call it that is the third most popular place to come during the summer. We also visited “Unification Park” Hmmm there was a plane, three tanks, a boat, and a submarine. The museum wasn’t quite what my uncle and I were expecting, we literally spent three mins in it. (that’s all there was).
The ocean was nice though, and it was interesting to see gun turrets along the shore that are still manned! I met my mom’s mom’s younger brother’s oldest daughter’s family today. They have two daughters, one in junior high and one in high school. The one in junior high is currently #1 on her class while the older one is in a three way tie for first in her class. They both want to study Chinese/Eastern medicine when they graduate from college. They said they’d like to visit the states after graduation also. It’s interesting to note that although the older sister, my cousin, has been learning english for about eight years, you’d think she was a first year student. Oh yea, how can I forget, so my small uncle (my mom’s mom’s younger brother’s son) is a web developer, specializing in online academic solutions. He was quite familiar with my iPhone and said that he remembers hearing that you could purchase an iPhone to work with a Korean carrier! He asked me if i had spoken with anyone at SK telecom about it. I mentioned that I need to take someone and also told him that if he heard how to give me a call. (so there might be hope yet! assuming that I can get my iPhone unlocked again, I’ve been having one heck of a time!) Not much else going on tonight, my grandma wants me to eat again but my aunt and I both convinced her that eating two hours ago, we were still full. So it’s about nap time. I think I’ll siesta for a bit and then rejoin the family for another meal. On the bright side I suppose, my gym membership starts on Monday so I’ll be able to start losing the 2kilos I’ve gained over the weekend. Until tomorrow...

Well, today was the restful thanksgiving that I’ve been looking forward to. My day started around 7:15AM when I woke up rested and decided to check some emails. I received an email from Yale stating that they had received my application were waiting to receive the complete package from lsac. As I recall, Yale uses a rolling admissions program so I could hear back with a decision as early as a month, then again, it could be as late as next April or May. Met some more cousins today, actually Ingie’s cousins. I had a chance to video chat with rockstar and talk to ML on the phone. It was pretty funny, Ingie asked to see pictures of ML so I found a couple on facebook. When he saw her, he smiled at me and said, “Britney Spears?” I laughed and told him that not all blondes in America were “Britney.” It was good to talk to rockstar today, when my uncle saw him, he said in his broken english, “you cute.” rockstar proceeded to lift up his shirt and give everyone a nice flash!


It’s around 12:30PM right now, and I’ve already had my first few shots of soju. The ladies of the house have been cooking every variation of fried food you could imagine. From calimari, to beef patties, grape leaves, tofu, scallions, imitation crab, pork strips, and that’s just the beginning. Of course the guys sample the foods while taking shots :D. I’m told that tonight we leave for Gang-nun, where my mom and grandmother grew up, it should be pretty fun. While I’m grateful to my uncles entire family as they have been nothing but accommodating and gracious hosts, I imagine that visiting relatives who’ve seen me as a little child and are “blood” will be quite different.

On a side note, a nice part about the Korean rural culture is the fact that everyone’s down for a mid-afternoon nap! I mention that because I see my uncles feet in the other room as he’s laying down for a little siesta. I’m sure there’ll be more to talk about for today, so I’ll leave this along for now.. and finish up tonight.

Chusok Part 3b


So we arrived in gangneung after about a four and a half hour car ride. I was greeted by my grandmother, actually my mother’s mother’s younger brother’s wife. She was pretty thrilled to see me after about 21 years. She couldn’t believe how tall I was and of course her first thought was, “You must be hungry.” Why does everyone always thing the big kid’s hungry? Maybe I’m full? Maybe I’ve got enough “on reserve” to sustain me for a couple of days? But nope, everyone thinks Timmy’s hungry all the time... Oh well. So I was right about the environment here, a bit different. As a matter of fact, my grandma couldn’t get over how bit I was and kept rubbing my leg. My aunt finally replied that all she (my grandma) was accomplishing was rubbing off my leg hair. Hmmmm... So we had quite a dinner, and of course, they gave the big kid the extra portion. (Sorry rockstar, the situation still applies, little guy gets the little portion... ) And of course I have to taste everything that’s at the dinner table. Tonight’s meal consisted of a variation of Alaskan fish. From a fish cake, to fried fish, to boiled fish.. to fish gills (which I managed to avoid, because it looked like.. yup, fish gills). Finally there was this concoction that looked like sushi covered in hot sauce. I asked what it was and my aunt replied, it’s fish. So I tasted it. It had a texture similar to sushi but a bit softer. After a bit more discussion I found out that it was actually fish ovaries. Hmmm.. Needless to say, I didn’t eat any more of that. (although it didn’t taste bad). My uncle.. or my mom’s mom’s younger brother’s youngest son arrived; he mentioned that he works about 2 kilometers from my school and said that we should hang out some time. He looks like your typical hip thirty something korean guy. You know with the expensive watch, addidas board shorts, designer glasses and levis t-shirt. He brought a variety of alcoholic beverages including a fifth of hennesy as gifts from friends of his. He also brought some homemade wine, it’s made from fermented black and raspberries. Tastes pretty good. And of course grandma wanted everyone to keep drinking and even brought out another 2 platefuls of food! Well, It’s time to shower, I hear that tomorrow might start with another hike (seeing as i’ve gained about 4 pounds and my uncle 10 pounds since chuseok began!). Until tomorrow!

Well, day two of Chusok and it was an early start. My uncle came in and woke me up at 6:30 this morning so that we could go for a hike. He took me all around the Singori, up through the mountains and to all the different growing fields. He mentioned to me that he hadn’t walked this particular trail in almost twenty years. We hiked for about an hour or so before coming back home to eat breakfast. My uncle and his brother wanted to take me and family to a famous mountain called Ma-ee San. (translated: Horse’s Ears). The fascinating thing about this particular pair of mountain is that they’re actually just two extremely large rocks. Each “ear”
or mountain (one’s a boy and the other’s a girl, of course) is simply a large stone. We went up to the mountain, which my aunt tells me is the mystic capital of Korea (I figure it’s probably like Sedona, AZ). There’s a house / temple dedicated to this supposed flying man who nobody knows whether or not ever died. (hmmm, I’ll side with the fact that he doesn’t fly and is long dead). A interteresting thing though, is an oak tree that resides next to his shrine, the icecicle that form on the tree during the winter actually form upward?! (hmmmm).
After about a two hour hike to the vertical base, we found out that the rock climbing trail was under renovation until 2013, we’ll try back in a few years. On the way down we stopped by one of several restaurants and had pork ribs and some traditional Korean dishes, specifically, rice and side dishes served in a very hot stone bowl. Note, the port ribs are that of piglets, I don’t know the significance, but I’m told it tastes better? I also experienced “makorie?” it’s a type of korean liquor that has fine grains of rice still in it. Tastes like bland soju to me, but my aunt says it’s good for you.




On that note, it seems that everything that tastes foul in Korea, is “good for you.” While we were walking up, this lady offered us a free sample of some drink. I can best describe it as tasting like fermented bean juice. (It tastes just like it sounds). Of course I had to finish it because “it’s good for me.” Ginseng flavored candy? Yup, it’s good for you too! Hmmmm... Well we made it home okay, I met my uncle’s oldest sister, her husband, and her son and daughter. My uncle tells me that his sister’s daughter (my cousin) studies close to Yonsei and that she’s learning German and is also interested in learning English. He asked if I would be interested in meeting up with her every other week or so to chat with her so I can teach her English and she can teach me Korean? Sounds like a deal... Well until next time!

So I’m experiencing the real “country” here in Korea. I went with my aunt and her husband to his family’s house in the backwoods of Korea. We arrived last night around 1AM. I ended up sleeping on the floor in my cousin’s room. I suppose this is sort of the thing you’d think of when you think of Korean “hillbillies.” They’re good people, work hard, prioritize family, and enjoy life. They appreciate the simple things like a cup of coffee and a good Korean drama on tv. This morning my aunt’s mother-in-law started making kimchee (a type of fermented cabbage). She’s making enough for her three sons and three daughters to take home with them after Chuseok.
I suppose I should take a second to explain Chuseok. It’s the Korean version of Thanksgiving, except it lasts a few days. Tomorrow morning the entire family will visit the graves of their ancestors and offer thanks and respect. In the mean time, we hang out and listen to my aunt’s father-in-law tell us stories of how he spent time in the military working with American back in the late 50’s and early 60’s. There’s a friend of the family here that works for an international trade company, so he’s able to make conversation a little easier between all of us. The women of the house are making what seems like a hundred pounds of kimchee while the men of the house (myself included, because I’m old) sit and talk while eating a type of boiled beef, some of the freshly made kimchee, and drinking a couple bottles of soju (korean rise whiskey). I’ve had intermittent access to internet while I’ve been here, actually that’s kind of a stretch, I got on for about 30 seconds earlier today. I’m going to work with my cousin Ingie (eengee) to get online at some point. Ingie really enjoys watching CSI, 24 and Prison Break.

Until next time...


*interesting cultural point: so every relative basically has a different title. So my aunt’s husband isn’t my uncle he’s actually my aunt’s husband. For my little cousin Ho-gwon, his dad’s older brother isn’t is uncle, it’s actually his “older dad.” This is differentiated from his dad’s younger brother who is referred to as his “younger dad.” So my aunt’s husband’s dad is referred to as ahbujee, or father, while my aunt’s husband’s dad’s older brother, is referred to as kun ahbujee, or “older father.” The End.

So the first decision is in.  As mentioned before, I received an invitation from Duke Law to apply using their "fast track" process.  In essence, a program designed to help them encourage possible applicants to apply and get a non-binding decision with 7-10 business days... 

Today was a productive day.  And by productive I don't necessarily mean that I left my room, although I did.  I showered, had some qt, ate kimbap, ate some brown eggs (and I really mean brown, as in the eggs whites were egg browns... and it was a bit chewy, and the uhh "browns" had a flavor.. my housemate told me it's because of the way it's cooked.  Right.) I did some laundry, did quite a bit of homework, even got out of the house a bit to venture to starbucks.  So this is where I begin my blog.. (after which I will hit the books again).

So I was recently told that I haven't put much up here about Korea and that some of you are feeling neglected.  My fault, I suppose I was thinking I needed to make the blogs meaningful and impactful.. but hey, like I wrote in my title, what's the alternative to my blog? crappy reality tv.  Nuff said.  So big cultural experience this week was going to Seoul World Cup Stadium to watch the U-17 World Cup Final, Spain v. Nigeria.  (For those of you unfamiliar with FIFA terminology U-17 is the under 18 division, it is likely that most of these young players will be in future World Cups).  It was quite an experience, the stadium is massive and seat almost 70,000 people.  When we got there the riot police made their presence very known.  Just a guesstimate, but I'd say somewhere around 1000 or so? All with their shields and helmets out.  There was some crazy food too!  Fried worms?! You'd better believe it!  and Joe was right, these people have 오징어 (oh-jing-uh, dried squid) at every event! Needless to say didn't try any grubs that night, but hey, who's to say I won't in the future?  Overall it was a good game, Nigeria won 3-0 in overtime shootout.  

Well, what can I say... I'm really not in the blogging mood, but I had some good news tonight so I thought I'd share. Fred Thompson is running for el presidente! And while I've been anticipating his announcement for several months now, I can't say that I would have wanted him to announce a day sooner. Of course he's getting a lot of flack from not only the other Republicans but many in the news, I mean just scanning the blogosphere I've noticed that people posting "a little too late." I don't know about everyone else, but personally? I'm starting to get a little tired of the same ol same ol nonsense... and I've talked to people who really couldn't tell you anything significant about any of the debates going on thus far. There was an article that said viewer-ship had dropped to below 1mil! I mean come on! People are obviously losing interest. I mean, hell, I don't even care who's saying what yet. What I do know is that Fred Thompson is a name that is resounding in the public sphere right now. AND, he's all alone.

What a day.  It starts with waking up, then not being able to register for a class I wanted.  I get to school to the infamous 4th floor of the New Millennium Hall building and I'm told I can't register for this particular class because I'm a direct exchange student.  And although I have all the rights and privileges of a full Yonsei student... enrolling in this particular class is not one of them.  Fine, I'm okay with that... problem is I'm only left with a handful of classes to choose from.  Generally not that big of a deal, except my intensive Korean class conflicts with all but three.  Hmmm so I close my eyes and pick one.  It's a good day though, I mean it's low 70's out, I'm wearing a t-shirt and shorts and I'm still sweating?  Rewind to this morning:  good thing, I spoke with Laney this morning, he's studying in Hong Kong this semester, we started our preliminary plans for Japan the first weekend in November.  He's also got the hookup on a ton of just cool gadgets, that's good.  He's gonna hook me up.  Fast forward back to school..  So it's 2:00PM and I'm standing around without a class to go to.  That's okay, lunch time!  So I decided to get some more korean food for cheap.  And while I'm eating this mosquito starts buzzing around me... bastard.  So I swat at it a few times... It just won't leave me alone!  Of course, as if buzzing around my head wasn't enough, it start flying over my food.. taunting me.  Then it came to me... it was like a lighting bolt through my brain!  I looked down in my hand and of course I was holding chopsticks.  "Time to get all Mr. Miyagi style on this bad boy," I think to myself.  Of course I didn't think I'd actually catch the thing... but of course I do... So now I'm starring at my chopsticks that have a dead mosquito on them.  I glance back down at my bowl, which is still full of cheap food.  Then I noticed that the tray / utensil station was pretty far away and I really didn't want to walk all the way over for new chopsticks.  

Today's been an atypical day, filled with a rollarcoaster of emotions and thoughts, mostly the down kind... of rollarcoaster.. you know, the one with the big drop where you can feel your stomach in your throat? And yet, it's been somewhat peaceful... thought I'd post a blog I started the other day...

So I haven't had much time to really think about much that's "meaningful" or contemplative since arriving in Korea. Don't get me wrong, I've thought very much about people back at home and things specifically related to the exchange program, but just not in general. Saturday while I rode the subway during my hour long ride (that lasted two and a half because of a misread sign) I was listening to my ipod and started thinking about the idea of "one."

(Now this blog as most others I write, is filled with random incoherent thoughts and ideas... read through it if you can... add what you will, hopefully, it will at least get you thinking.)

So I've been working on my law school applications for the greater part of the day.  And I've reached the moment of truth.  Actually, during this process there will be several moments of truth as several of the applications cannot be submitted for another week or two.  But what I'm saying is that for five of my applications, I've reached the moment of truth.  Well actually, I suppose one could argue that the real moment of truth is when the response letter comes in the mail and there's that tension before you open it up.  So I suppose what I'm really trying to say is... I needed a freakn break!  As I took out my credit card to pay the $300 in application fees and LSDAS report fees I've racked up so far, I noticed my palms were a bit moist.  (Granted the fact that the soundtrack to the opening battle scene from Gladiator is playing in the background might not be helping much! and Yes, I put the application fees on my credit card.  On my Starwood American Express to be perfectly honest.  I figure I might as well get the 300 points toward the 12,000 I need to stay in a hotel for a night!)  

It's been another great couple of days, lots going on not only with Korea but with law school too.  I spent all of yesterday hanging out with my aunt, her husband, and my cousin hong-won in Kunsan where I was born.  Although I didn't get a chance to visit the infamous St. Vincent's Hospital because it was raining, I'll probably go back in a couple of weeks to check out some more of the sights and sounds.  My aunt and uncle own and operate a chinese language school that teaches to korean natives, from what I hear right now it's pretty trendy to learn chinese and then study over there.  She's offered to teach me chinese, might have to take her up on it.. then again I suppose I should wait and see how my korean progresses.. (on a side note, I just figured out how to reconfigure my blogger to english.. whew! bout time!)  

suwon

So suwon was quite the experience, we went to the korean costco which was cool.  It was quite the place, there was more free food than you could sample and every department had what sounded like an auctioneer.  The person would yell out discounts and people would swarm in like flies to buy whatever it was that was the blue-light special of the moment.  The sea food section was quite... different and extravagant and the sushi.. ummm well I think that I need an entire blog just for that.. but don't worry I'll update it.  Other than that, I couldn't get over the fact that my cousin was such a good look'n kid.

salesmen around the world

So my laundry's done and now I'm getting ready to head to Yonsei and have my final check out.  I also got a handphone yesterday, the number I'm still not quite sure of because it hasn't been activated.  I'm amazed to see that some things are pretty "international" like the fact that wherever you go, many salesmen still "bend" the truth.  So my aunt is helping me buy the handphone yesterday and she asks the salesman why the phone is free?  He starts telling her about the way it works and how the phone company provides a kick-back.  At some point he tells her that this is the best deal ever and that he wouldn't lie.  When he glances at me, I kind of grin and told him "all salesmen are liars."  He pauses for a moment and then laughs.  He agreed but said that his strong consciounce wouldn't let him do it. (riiiight, these are the ones you really have to be careful for).  So he tells us that we'll receive a phone call around 8PM that will give us instructions on activating the phone.  --> Come 8:30 my aunt calls and he says it's not going to be activated but to wait until today and give him a call.  I'll skip the part where he didn't apologize and then told my aunt to return the phone if she wasn't happy.  So I just had my friend come over and call.. the guy said he was too busy and to call back .

law school 102

So today I'll submit most of my law school apps.  It's a weird feeling and I know there's not much I can do at this point.. what's done is done.  I had a good chat conversation yesterday with a long time friend I really don't talk to all that much anymore.. But it was good.  She told me how she's an over-analyzer (most of you know that's me in a nutshell) and that she has a hard time "letting-go."  I told her that I'm always working on the same issue and that for me, I've found that if I focus hard enough then I'm able to overanalyze the things that warrent that type of thing and let go the things that don't. "sounds like you're well on your way then," she replied.  "Only every other day," I replied .  Well maybe I'll try to make this a good day.  I already had amazing qt this morning, an enjoyable conversation about fan blades and frogs, ate breakfast, did laundry and now I'm heading out to school.  I think my goal for today is to get all the applications finished up, and forget about it.  I mean I could always go out and drink so much I forget I even applied to law school.. but then who'd clean the sheets?