Spare the Shovel, Spoil the Child

Here’s a strange story about a teach who beats kids with shovels in order to be relevant. It’s Korea. Article title caught my attention: “Foul-mouth Teacher Earns Praise from Students.” http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/01/113_59146.html

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Remembering Rod

Last Saturday, our friend Rod Rodriguez was killed in that terrorist attack at the Marriot in Pakistan. Rod and his wife Caryn were our friends in Korea, then they moved to Germany a little before we did. Rod was a good man, and Kristie and I are still troubled by these events. Read the article [...]

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Goodbye Korea

It’s done. We have left Korea and are now spending five hours in Tokyo before jumping on a flight to Seattle. I cannot use adjectives like “bittersweet” or “sad” or “heavy-hearted” to describe my feelings. I have only one descriptor for that feeling: intense joy (or does that count as two?). Of course, we have [...]

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Anniversary

Yesterday was our seventh anniversary, and we celebrated with a mediocre meal at an italian restaurant. Koreans just can’t get italian food right. Aslan’s birthday is on the same day as our anniversary. She’s six, 42 in dog years. She spend the night at home licking herself.

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Waiting

Kristie and I had our morning lattes on our porch yesterday as we listened to a Korean version of “YMCA” piped through street speakers. Are the Village People finally catching on in Songtan, South Korea? Two months since I last wrote. Here’s a run-down: 1. Applied for a job transfer to Europe.2. Did not get [...]

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Riding Like Tom

I finally got back on my bicycle yesterday for a twenty-mile ride. Ignoring the saddle sore, I got back on today for another twenty. Korea is not conducive to road bikes (or mountain bikes, or cars, or people, etc.), so I find that the best riding is around the flight line on base. There’s nothing [...]

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Countdown

It is cold here in Korea. This is this-is-why-I-left-New-England cold. Isn’t the phrase “cold as hell” a misnomer? Why do we want to say this? Four more days of school until our Thailand trip. We are leaving on Saturday morning for Bangkok, then Chaing Mai, then to the beaches on Koh Sumui. We return to [...]

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It’s a Movie Bonanza

Here’s a link to what’s showing at our base movie theater. Please read this and pity us. November is a stellar month. No movies this week due to an exercise, then Roll Bounce and Get Rich or Die Tryin. I wouldn’t pay 50 Cent to see either of those. Word.

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Starbucks Store Count

Seoul-108 stores Portland-57 stores Rhode Island-12 stores

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Courageous Channel

One of the downsides of working among a military community is that we sometimes have to play those military games. No, Kristie is not forced to wear an olive-drab uniform while twirling a machine gun synchronistically with tank commanders and infantrymen. Rather, we have to take part in a peninsula-wide exercise to prepare us to [...]

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